Mass Effect: Unexpected Consequences
by demigod571
Summary: A student gets catapulted into the universe of his favourite videogame and immediately starts making waves in the galaxy. But he isn't a god, and to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Mass Effect, loose self insert, rated T for language, getting stronger in future chapters. May become M but this is unlikely.
1. Just a charitable bystander (Yeah, sure)

So, this is a new project. I fell out with the ideas behind my Harry Potter story, but I've been captured by Mass Effect in a way that surprised me. But, I don't like some of the things I encountered throughout the series. So here we are. Or more specifically, here_ I_ am. While the OC in this story will have a very different background from me, he will be loosely based on my personality, or at least a battle-hardened, slightly biased version of my personality. Well, I've written far too much up here. Carry on!

All Mass Effect related content in the following text is the property of Bioware. I own Sam. I think.

Note: Edited as of 20/10/2013

* * *

The experience of having my head smashed against a cold, hard metal surface was a deeply painful one, accompanied by a slightly concerning cracking noise as I toppled to a floor that, as far as I was aware, should not have been there. My landing almost squarely on my head does not improve matters, as I end up collapsing to the cold floor from an impromptu, deeply painful handstand position. Deciding just to lie there for a moment, mainly to groan and let the pain fade away, I try to figure out where the hell the floor had come from.

So far as I'm aware, the floor of my student accommodation in London doesn't have any metal surfaces, although the fact that my last memory involved working on an essay concerning nuclear physics with some form of beer on the desk next to my laptop did not bode well for the direction the night had taken. Getting drunk had not been on the agenda for the night, I mentally berate myself, albeit to little effect due to the pain which shows no signs of fading anytime soon.

Groaning at the pain, I crack my eyes open and immediately regret it, as my eyes are instantly flooded with light. Waiting a moment to let the sensation fade and to allow my eyes time to adjust, I move my arms from the spread eagle position they had been in to try and lift myself off the cold floor.

Huh. Odd. Limbs seem to be fully responsive, not something I would normally associate with a hangover. I wasn't complaining though, as I was able to slowly lift myself to the point where I was kneeling, and able to look at my immediate surroundings thanks to the light being out of my eyes.

The floor seemed to be exactly as I had felt, smooth, cold, metallic. Nothing interesting there, but it did add further urgency to the question of where the hell I was. I almost wished I hadn't asked when I looked up and saw the sight of a clear blue sky, dotted with clouds and without a single overly tall glass building in sight.

Maybe I was right about the hangover, and perhaps I should add something less legal to that possibility considering that I seem to be quite some way from where I was last night. I can wonder about getting back later, I suppose. No need to worry about that immediately.

A throbbing pain in my skull brings me back to reality, and I realise I should probably find a slightly better place to recover then a backstreet of somewhere. I look around and see the exit of the backstreet and begin to head towards it. I can see silhouettes of people walking past the exit of the backstreet. Maybe they can tell me where I am.

I clamber to my feet, taking a couple of initially shaky but increasingly confident steps forward towards the exit of the street I'm currently in. There's something off about the silhouettes passing by, but I can't quite make my brain lock onto it through the throbbing of my head.

I stop dead as I get closer to the exit and the silhouettes become clearer to me. I swear that the figure that just walked past was blue. Which does lend weight to the idea that perhaps I may have taken something I wouldn't normally take last night. Blue? Why does that trigger some memories? Huh, that's odd. I swear that I've heard of people with blue skin before. Nonetheless I keep moving, wearier of the throbbing in my skull than anything else at the moment.

I draw closer to the exit of the backstreet, somehow with nobody noticing me, and then stop again before starting to back away as something huge lumbers past the entrance in what seems to be some kind of armour. My head throbs even more painfully as I try and force myself to remember where the memories of this is coming from.

Then, as I back away down the alley and out of any potential sight, the light clears. Just for a brief moment, but it's enough to glimpse what lies beyond the alleyway. And what I see shocks me utterly. A statue, hewn from rock, of a Mass Relay.

What the…

Blinking in shock, I back up a little further down the alleyway before slumping against the metal wall of the alley. Did I just see a statue of a Mass Relay? A Mass Relay? I can't have done, surely, I can't possibly have seen a piece of fictional technology from a trilogy of games that I enjoy? Can I? It sure seems like I did, but still.

I sit there for some time contemplating my situation as best I can through the pain in my head. It just doesn't seem possible that I could have been in London fifteen minutes ago in the year 2013 and then be on the Citadel from Mass Effect in the year...I realise that I don't actually know what year it is. Unfortunate.

The throbbing in my head has gotten worse. I should probably see a doctor, but I can barely move through a haze of pain and exhaustion induced by the pain. And anyway, if I sleep then it might turn out that this is just some kind of fever dream, right?

With what little is left of my conscious mind satisfied with my reasoning, I give in to the exhaustion and fade off into sleep.

* * *

Sleep was over all too soon. At the very least I can't feel the pain emanating from my skull anymore, which is nice. I don't really want to open my eyes, as I can feel the cool metallic wall against my back which tells me that I've woken up in exactly the same place where I fell asleep. Oh, bloody hell.

I crack my eyes open and try to quickly adjust to the light, trying not to think about the enormity of my situation and failing utterly. I mean, everything that I actually care about is more or less gone. Not only in space, but most likely in time, seeing as how I am currently on the Citadel and not in my place of residence in London. Which is most unfortunate.

I eventually get a hold over my thoughts and breathe in deeply. Right, time to prioritise. First of all, let's get the date. That would certainly be nice and then I can find out just how far removed I am from my life. To this end, I get up and begin to walk, mercifully pain-free towards the exit of the alleyway.

I reach the end of the alleyway and brace myself for what's about to happen mentally. I breathe slowly and then step out of the alleyway and into the light of the Citadel.

The first thing that hits me as the light in my eyes fades is the sweet smell of the air. I must be on the Presidium somewhere, there's no way in hell that the Wards have the sweet smell of flowers in them.

The light soon clears from my eyes and I take a look around. Yeah, this is definitely the Presidium, what with the tall metal buildings with fancy balconies and overhangs, the artificial lake that I'm looking over right now and of course the actual exposure to the sky, which must be a plus. I wonder how it works, living with the sun constantly reflecting off of all this metal. Surely that must get annoying?

Shaking my head clear of this distraction, I move on. It would appear that I'm in the main area of the Presidium from the first game, which means I'm probably here before the Battle of the Citadel, which is nice. I think I'm near the Human Embassy, which means that I'm near an Avina terminal which I can use to determine the date. Actually, since it's most likely that Avina will realise that I'm not from around here, it might be better to try elsewhere first.

Hmm, the Financial District might be a good idea, they must have some form of public timekeeping to better oil the wheels of commerce. Plus, that area values secrecy and therefore C-Sec might be a little less freaked if they notice a completely undocumented human wandering around.

Mind made up, I set off towards the Financial District, continuing to take in the sights of the Presidium through my own eyes, a surreal experience. That Mass Relay statue makes me uneasy, but then again I do know what it actually is. Its presence here does indicate that Sovereign has not yet launched his attack.

I cross a bridge over the artificial lake-that thing is ridiculous, how'd they build it?-and as I do so I come across an Asari and a Salarian having a hushed conversation. I try not to stop and stare when I see them, instead turning away and looking into the fishless water as I cross, but I realise with a start that the two aliens are speaking in completely different languages.

Oh hell, I don't have a bloody translator, do I? This could be quite a serious issue, all things considered. I force myself to keep walking and not stop to dwell on the potential consequences of this new development.

While that gnaws at the back of my mind I arrive at the Financial District and immediately find what I'm looking for. A large, electronic 'billboard' of sorts, covered in a variety of alien languages and other markings, presumably some sort of stock exchange. It concerns me that there's no unified written language, which can only make my life more complicated.

Scattered around the area are a number of people of different species all gazing intently up at the billboard, presumably here for the stock market. I, however, have simpler business at hand. My eyes run over the ever changing array of numbers and statistics in search of a date.

Eventually I find what I'm looking for in a corner of the screen-it's just four numbers, but I have to blink and look again when I see them.

2183.

Oh, this is certainly an intriguing development. It would appear that whatever dragged me here just so happened to drop me in just the right time and place to see the action. 2183…the year of Mass Effect 1. If the date is correct, then it's more than possible that Commander Shepard hasn't started the hunt for Saren yet.

This could certainly be exciting. When I was younger I had always hoped against all reasonable hope that I would get an opportunity to be part of Commander Shepard's crew, and now a potential opportunity had been dropped against my will right in my lap. The possibility to be a part of the trilogy…

No. Wait. Priorities! I am not currently in a position to be going off and helping Shepard, certain things need to be resolved first. Most pressingly, my inability to understand a damn word either written or spoken. Now where would I be able to get a translator from? Perhaps I'll be able to find something useful in the Wards markets. I'll just have to hope that I'll be able to communicate with someone.

Mind made up, I set off for the Wards. The elevator shouldn't be far from here, if I recall correctly. I set off in the direction of the Krogan statue in the distance, an incredibly surreal sight to say the least, remembering that the elevator was in that general area.

I do eventually find the elevator and get into an elevator with actual people in it, which is odd considering that in the game every single elevator was unoccupied no matter where you were or how crowded the area was. I suppose real life doesn't use elevators as loading screens, so people actually use them now. Hopefully it also means that they won't be as slow as they were in the games.

A few minutes into the elevator journey, I realise that this is in fact very much not the case. I mean, the elevator doesn't seem to be going that far, so why is it taking so long? It just doesn't seem to be practical to have such a barrier to movement around the Citadel.

I stop thinking about this as soon as the elevator stops and quickly head out into the Wards in search of the Markets.

It's odd seeing the relative grime of the Wards in comparison to the Citadel, with the Wards being dark and shady where the Presidium is bright and open. It's interesting to see that even one hundred and seventy years into the future we still have significant sections of the population, even here, at the heart of galactic civilisation, forced to live in the dark parts of the galaxy. Well, at least it's not Omega, but it still irritates me that the Citadel can't be a haven from the spectre of poverty.

For the moment, I have greater concerns. I force the thoughts of social injustice out of my mind for the moment and press on through the Wards looking for a translator.

Working from memory, I soon find myself amongst the little pseudo-market stalls of the Markets. There must be somebody here who can help me, maybe some kind of tech salesman.

I begin to stroll around the Markets, acting like a curious customer just browsing what's available. I can smell something cooking in the distance, which only lends authenticity to the feeling of being in a proper market. Apart from the various bits of futuristic technology and the copious amounts of metal being used here.

I quickly find what I'm looking for: a Salarian managing a small and otherwise lonely stall covered in various pieces of technology I can barely begin to understand just from looking at them. There must be something that I can use here.

Cautiously, I approach the Salarian, reasoning that his translator will be capable of interpreting my speech and therefore I shall not be forced to resort to hand gestures. With this in my mind, I draw near the Salarian and begin to speak "Uh, excuse me? I need some help."

The Salarian sure seems to understand, his visage assuming a Salarian approximation of something which I've seen many times before, that of a polite, attentive shop clerk. Can't say that I expected that from the Wards. Then again, these are the Upper Markets, so maybe that's why. The Salarian speaks then, in a bizarre language that goes straight in one ear and out the other it's so complex.

After he's finished with whatever he was saying, I speak again, this time somewhat apologetically "Uh, sorry, but I don't have a translator. That's why I'm here. Can you help me?"

He seems slightly taken aback at this, not really surprising considering that I imagine that some form of translation technology must be standard issue from birth at this point. Nonetheless, he thinks for a moment and then nods, before ducking under the counter and then emerging with small metal box, which he passes over the counter to me.

I open the box, which contains four objects, a pair of what look like small metal circles, and a pair of contact lenses. Huh? I look up at the Salarian inquisitively, and he motions for me to pass the box back over.

I do so and he reaches into the box and pulls out one of the metal circles which he holds up to his ear. Oh, so that's what you do with them. Ok, that makes sense. The Salarian passes the circle over and I place it, carefully, inside my ear. I do the same with the other and wait for something to happen.

The Salarian speaks again, but this time I actually understand him "Did that work? I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, it's an outdated model."

I nod, and respond "It works great, thank you so much." Wow, that's a relief. The ability to actually speak to people is definitely a relief. "So I guess these are for my eyes?" I ask, holding up one of the contact lenses.

The Salarian nods "That's right. Those are to translate written words. It's an outdated and uncomfortable method of doing it, but it gets the job done."

I place the contact I'm holding inside my eye and blink for a couple of seconds, adjusting to the unusual sensation of having something in my eye willingly. I look around for something written and spot a signpost: 'LOWER MARKETS', well, I guess it is working. I place the other contact in my eye and turn back to the Salarian, suddenly realising I don't have any way of paying for this. "Thanks! Now, about payment..."

The Salarian stops me with a hand "No need to worry. That model's so outdated I probably couldn't sell it. You need it, so take it. No cost." Uh, that's generous. Also entirely unexpected, but I'm not exactly going to complain about it.

"Thanks so much. I really needed this." The Salarian nods, and I turn away, slightly surprised at how simple that was. Now, what next? I need to find some way to get in contact with Shepard. Hmm. I sift through my memories of ME1, and remember that Chora's Den isn't far from here. That might be a good place to go, it would give me an opportunity to help Tali out. It sure seems like the best option for the moment, so I set off.

I pass Emily Wong on my way through the Wards. Hopefully she'll get the information she needs from Shepard. It would be a shame to see organised crime remain unreported on the Citadel.

Soon after I pass through the alleyway where Tali will be met by Fist's thugs later on. I take a moment to look around the area and see if I can come up with some sort of plan, but eventually conclude that without the thugs actually standing here I can't do anything, so I move on.

A few minutes later I'm standing outside Chora's Den, the sound of very electronic music blasting out through the shut door in front of me. I never really went in for the whole 'let's all go out and get drunk' thing back home, so this would sure be a new experience.

I walk in through the door and take a look around. I gotta say, I disagree with Ashley Williams on many things, but I most definitely agree with her that it's sad that at the end of the day, after coming so far in the galaxy, people can still be found in bars drooling over dancing women.

Ah well, it can't be helped. I move to take a seat at the bar, but then I see, out of the corner of my eye, a quarian, mouthpiece blinking as they talk, in the far side of the room nearby to where the entrance to Fist's office is. Well, well, well, what do we have here? Seems like I might be in luck in planning my next step.

I move around the bar, which is unfortunately empty, making my movement look most conspicuous. Well it would if anyone was actually looking at me, and, for various reasons, I'm quite certain that most people's attention is focused away from me.

I take a seat as close as possible to where the conversation is taking place, and wave away the barkeeper when they walk up, instead placing my head on the table and pretending that I'm just trying to sleep. Instead, I start to listen to the conversation taking place behind me. As soon as the Quarian opens their mouth I'm absolutely certain it's Tali. It's hard to misplace that voice.

"So, you're absolutely certain that you can set up a meeting with him?" she doesn't sound good. She sounds scared, panicked. The Galaxy has been mistreating her recently, what with the assassination attempt and the Quarian bias. That would all change soon, if everything goes to plan.

A man responds. Human, must be Fist "Of course, I have good contact with the Broker, and he just happens to be in the area, and he is most willing to be a part of this transaction. He sees the value of what you carry, and recognises the importance it could have. He'll see that it falls into the right hands." Fist, you utter bastard.

Tali still doesn't sound calm, but her voice isn't actually shaking anymore "T-thank you. Where should I meet him?" Oh dear, hook, line and sinker. Then again, she doesn't exactly have any reason to suspect Fist of anything as stupid as betraying the Shadow Broker. It does make me wonder what Saren offered Fist. Or maybe, Fist is just a complete idiot. It's probably the latter.

"There's an alleyway nearby where I conduct business with the Shadow Broker. I'll meet you there in, say, five hours, ok? I should have everything prepared by then." I hear the sound of footsteps behind me and realise that the conversation is over. Hmm, five hours from now? Not bad, I have a bit of time to prepare.

Fist speaks up again just as the footsteps, presumably Tali's, reach me "Listen, there's no need to worry, you'll be safe now. We'll see that this goes well, and that you don't get harmed." Wow, has this guy ever heard of laying it on too thick? Even if I didn't already know that he'd betrayed the Shadow Broker I'd be suspicious of how this guy was talking.

I hear the door of Fist's office open and close, and then the sound of footsteps again, this time moving away from me. Guess that the conversation's really over now. Deciding it would be suspicious if I just suddenly 'wake up' as soon as the conversation between Fist and Tali is over, I resolve keep my head on the table for a while longer as I think about what needs to be done next.

Obviously Tali could do with a little extra help, even though that wasn't really a situation that could go 'wrong' per se, seeing as how Shepard is now human I would rather not have the human margin of error. Plus, every little helps, right? Of course the real question is-how can I help? I've never fired a weapon in my life and having never knowingly been exposed to Element Zero, I've most likely got no biotic talent knocking about. So even if I could get a weapon of some kind, which I doubt could be done without a license and/or credits, neither of which I have, I wouldn't really be any good with the thing.

I have more time to mull over that one, and it doesn't leave out the possibility of acquiring some sort of blunt object. That would be the most effective solution short of a firearm, but I'd still be screwed without the element of surprise. But for the moment, a thought has crossed my mind which requires even more of my attention. That, of Commander Shepard.

The problem with Shepard is the fact that the number of variable is so bloody wide. It's not just a matter of gender, or appearance, it's a fundamental matter of personality and outlook. I could never tolerate Renegade Shepard or their actions, which involved worrying amounts of genocide, and that was in the game. I'm certain that I would find a Renegade Shepard entirely intolerable in real life as well. But then again, Shepard never really got much room to be grey in the games either. I know that if it hadn't resulted in everyone dying on more than one occasion I would have played a Grey Shepard. If that's the case it'll be interesting to see which way Shepard leans on the moral spectrum.

Either way, I'll know soon enough. Hopefully, at least, if I don't get horribly murdered at the hands of Fist's thugs. That would be embarrassing.

I get lost in thought for some time after that, thinking about the various possible Shepard's' that I could be dealing with. Hopefully we get a Paragon leaning one. And one that doesn't hate the Geth too much, that'd be nice.

Suddenly, about half an hour later, and alarming thought that I had entirely repressed until this point erupted inside my minds: What had become of me back home? Had I ceased to exist? Were there now two of me, across two different universes? Had I, and this was the most sobering possibility, been erased from history entirely? I had never made much of a mark on the world, or indeed any mark whatsoever, but I was getting there, and I had had hopes and dreams and people I cared about and…

Stop. No use getting hung up on it. It doesn't matter. I'm here now, there are new goals, new hopes, new dreams, and new people to be forced to coexist with. Concentrate on that, worry about other matters when they need to be worried about. That would be best, and would probably also be the option that avoids insanity.

As I'm lost in my thoughts on this matter, I manage to completely miss the arrival of a huge being in dark red armour. Ah, Wrex, you have at last arrived on the scene. The huge Krogan stomps up towards the entrance of Fist's Office where he is promptly halted by a pair of bouncers. Looking over my shoulder, I see…oh the bouncers would be Turian wouldn't they, perfect.

Wrex grunts "Let me through." There is a dangerous edge to his voice, backed up by the oversized shotgun that he's got slung around his waist. Hopefully that doesn't have to be used yet, I'd rather not be in the room when that happens.

The two bouncers look at each other, and then the unlucky one on the right speaks "Look, Wrex, back off. You're not getting in." Ok, Turian, you might be working for scum but apparently the scum hires the bravest of them. Not many would dare to stand up to Urdnot Wrex.

"I've been hired. I'll do my job. Tell Fist the Shadow Broker knows what he's done, and maybe he'll actually come out and we can get it over with." That would be nice, but it would also be premature. Hold off for a bit, Wrex, and your job will be done soon.

The Turian sighs and shakes his head "Wrex, Fist isn't coming out. Now leave before things get ugly."

The ancient Krogan nods "Very well, I'll go for now. But I never leave without getting the job done, as Fist will soon learn. Tell him that."

Wrex begins to turn around and I quickly spin around to my original position so as not to raise suspicion of my eavesdropping. Wrex thunders past me, presumably soon to get picked up by C-Sec, where he will hopefully get picked up by Shepard in turn. That would be optimal, and would probably end in Fist dying. Don't know why that appeals to me so much, slightly concerning that it does.

There's a clock on the wall. There's little left to be done for the next few hours, I suppose. Guess all I can do now is wait for the moment of my great reckoning with three thugs in a back alley. That seems a lot less dramatic than it could have been.

* * *

Four and a half hours later, I glance at the clock on the wall and sigh in realisation that it's time to go. I get up from my chair at the bar, my legs nearly collapsing in on themselves as they realise the sudden necessity of walking is again present.

I begin to move casually, really, really praying that none of Fist's thugs are intelligent enough to recognise that the time of my leaving just so happens to be at this particular moment.

If things do go horribly wrong, hopefully Shepard will be in the area to help out, with what I do hope is more than two squad mates in tow. Then again, it wouldn't overly surprise me if Alliance regulations forbid the use of actual force in a combat situation, which would result in two squad mates. Ah well, the cavalry, should they be needed, should certainly be strong enough no matter how many people are involved in said cavalry.

I stop by the door for a moment as the full absurdity of my plan hits me. I mean, who the hell do I think I am, being capable of this? It's absurd, but I can't laugh. The consequences of failure…but at this stage, seeing as how Shepard has not arrived to destroy Chora's Den, they probably won't arrive in time to save Tali if I back out now. Plus, this is my only opportunity to gain a real place in this Galaxy that I know anything about. At this stage, I can't not do this.

I'm on a schedule. Time to move on. I take the turns around the open area outside Chora's Den and then begin to climb the stairs up towards the back alley where the next fateful confrontation shall pan out. Just as I reach the top, however, I notice a piece of metal piping seems to have fallen from the ceiling. Huh, hopefully that isn't anything important. Doubtless the Keepers shall be along shortly to fix that. They'll need some new piping though, as I lean over and grab the piping. I lift the cold metal in my hand and feel the weight. Something tells me this would hurt if you were to be smacked with it.

I feel slightly reassured by my acquisition of a large metal object to hit people with, but then I remember to my dismay that I'm fighting people armed with guns. Nevertheless, it makes me feel better to have something useful in my hands.

I open the door and realise in horror that I'm late. Not disastrously so, but sufficiently that the thugs have already arrived. This whole mission just got a lot more interesting. I move, very quietly, over to a jutting out of the wall. From there, I listen to the conversation and plan my next move. It would seem that there's a single Salarian guarding each staircase, but at the bottom, which makes my life easier. Hopefully Salarians can be shocked.

Listening in to Tali's conversation with the Turian, I realise that the time to fight is almost imminent. I hear Tali declare that the deal's off, and quickly breathe in and out before hefting the piping and leaping around the corner, charging headlong, piping raised, at the Salarian at my end of the alleyway. He doesn't even have time to raise his weapon, as I get close enough to swing down on his skull, which caves in with a sickening cracking noise and a brief spurt of blood, causing him to collapse to the floor, still.

I force myself not to dwell on the fact that I may have just attacked another sentient being in anger, and look away from the piping which is now dotted in blood. Instead, I charge forward at the Turian, who has turned away from Tali in confusion. I move quickly and swing the piping, but at the end of the day it's a damn Turian, which means that he went through boot camp when he was fifteen. And it shows in the deft way that he grabs the piping and rips it out of my hands. Oh, shit.

Recovering quickly, I brace myself for a fight which is apparently going to be slightly longer than I thought it was going to be. The Turian quickly jabs at me with a fist, getting me right in the stomach and causing me to nearly keel over. I manage to stay upright however, and using my stronger right hand I manage grab his arm, already coming around for another swing.

Barely even blinking, the Turian quickly switches tactics and kicks me in the shin, this time succeeding in sending me toppling to the floor in pain. Well, this is going about as well as I expected it to go. I roll over and find the Turian looming over me, snarling. He grabs me by the collar of the shirt I'm wearing and lifts me up, dragging me over to the wall and shoving me roughly against it. My head has started throbbing again, you bastard.

Bringing an arm back, the Turian hits me again. Ouch, that one's going to leave quite the bruise tomorrow. Assuming there's going to be a tomorrow. I do, however, manage to realise something thought the haze of pain. The fabric of the Turian's clothing appeared to be soft, it must be some form of civilian wear. And if I recall correctly, Turians have a not dissimilar anatomy to humans. That could definitely be used to my advantage.

The Turian hits me again, and since it's quite likely the next blow will knock me out of the fight it's worth trying my idea. I bring my knee up and meet with a material that is most definitely soft. Oh dear, judging by the very un-Turian scream of pain that he suddenly lets out, I'm guessing that my assumptions about Turian anatomy were correct. Well, I'm not complaining.

I stumble as I'm dropped and the Turian continues to howl in pain-serves him right for bringing soft clothes to a fight. I get the best of it though, as the Turian soon falls to the ground clutching his groin. I recover a lot faster than him, and reach over to grab the piping. Feeling the cold metal in my hand actually manages to reassure me about what I'm already resolved to doing.

I walk over to where the Turian is lying, and heft the piping over my shoulders. I think he realises what's about to happen before I swing down. One, and he stops squirming. Two, I hear the first cracking sound as the piping breaches the skull. Three, the first blood spurts as the bridge of his 'nose' collapses and on the fourth and final blow the skull itself caves in, leaving the messy remnants of a very dead Turian lying a atop a steadily spreading pool of blood.

I drop the piping where I stand and try very hard not to be sick as the adrenaline fades and the horror at what I've just done sets in. I can feel the bile in my throat, but the fight isn't over yet. Beating back my emotions, I turn to see about this other Salarian, only to discover that there isn't really a problem with him anymore. There is, however, quite a serious problem with the gun Tali has suddenly decided to point in my face. That's just not nice, considering what I just did.

I briefly consider raising my hands, but screw it, if she's going to kill me even after what I've just done for her then I'm not going to be able to reason with her. Plus, I don't truly believe that Tali is capable of killing an organic being like that. "Look, miss, could you please but the damn gun down? I just saved your life here!" My words come out angrier than I had expected, but I really don't care at this point. The adrenaline has deserted me, leaving me utterly exhausted from the fight, and I just don't give a damn now.

Tali does not lower the gun, presumably in paranoia. Understandable, doesn't mean I have to like it. When she speaks, it is slowly and with a slight shake to her voice which indicates to me that she is still scared "Who are you? Why are you here? Are you working for Saren?" Gee, thanks, accusing the guy who just saved you of trying to kill you.

Actually, considering what I just did to that Turian, that doesn't really seem overly surprising. I sigh and begin to speak "My name is Sam. I overheard your conversation with Fist. Heard you wanted to meet with the Shadow Broker. Soon after you leave, a Krogan bounty hunter walks in and starts talking about Fist betraying the Shadow Broker. Realised you were in danger, and here I am. No, I do not work for any 'Saren', and I have never heard of anyone called that. Now will you please lower your weapon?"

Slowly, and with suspicion still rife in the way she moves, she does as I ask. She doesn't seem to be happy about it, but I'm beyond caring. She speaks again "So, Fist has betrayed the Broker?"

I nod "Seems that way, yeah. Would certainly explain why his guys tried to kill us both. Maybe he's started working for this Saren character you're so afraid of."

She thinks about this for a moment, and then nods "That must be it. Saren would be very interested in making sure the information I have never gets known."

I hold up a hand to stop her "What's so important about this information?" I know the answer, of course, but for reasons of keeping cover I decide to ask the question.

Tali looks at me for a few moments, as if deciding how much she can actually trust me, before finally speaking "I have information which connects Saren to the Geth attack on the human colony of Eden Prime. I tried to get the information to the Council, but before I could I was attacked by Saren's assassins and I had to run."

I nod "It seems like this information is pretty important. Have you tried going to C-Sec?"

Tali sighs in irritation, although at what I don't know "I did try, but I was brushed off. They ordered me to get off the station by the end of the day. It's annoying, but anti-Quarian bias is nothing new to me."

I ponder this for a moment "Perhaps they'll listen to you with a member of a less, uh, disliked species there" I offer. Hopefully that won't cause offence. Can't see why it would.

Before Tali can respond, however, I hear the sound of the door open behind me. Hah, seems like the cavalry has arrived! I turn towards the door and, sure enough, there stand five people-three humans, a Turian and a Krogan. Wonderful, Shepard has recruited them all.

It's at this point that I suddenly realise they all have their weapons levelled at me. I quickly throw my hands up, quite certain that at least Wrex will have fewer qualms about killing me then Tali will. "Woah, woah, there's no need for that! I'm not with Fist, I'm not here to kill her!"

We stand there for a few moments, and just as the beads of sweat begin to form on my forehead the woman in the middle, presumably Shepard, motions to the rest of the squad, who all lower their weapons. Wonderful. I breathe a sigh of relief "Thank you."

Shepard steps forward "What happened here?" All right, all right, no need to sound so demanding, Shepard.

I shrug "My name is Sam. I heard the conversation between Fist and this Quarian, talking about how she was prepared to give information to the Shadow Broker in exchange for protection. Nothing wrong with that, but some time later he" I point to Wrex "comes in and asks for Fist, talking about how he betrayed the Shadow Broker. Then I knew that she was in danger, so here I am."

Shepard looks at the broken skull of the Turian, and then at the piping lying next to him. I do not look at either of these things. After a few moments surveying the corpse, Shepard looks back up at me and asks, rather sceptically "So you came without a weapon?"

I shrug "The piping proved rather effective." Shepard nods, and I suddenly realise I'm not being anywhere near belligerent enough considering they just came in here and nearly shot me after helping the person they're trying to help "So why are you here, anyway?"

Shepard looks at me for a moment, then speaks "My name is Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. With me are Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian of C-Sec and Urdnot Wrex. We're looking for information tying Saren to the Geth, and Fist told us he set up a Quarian to be killed by Saren because she had information. We came as quickly as we could." She sounds almost apologetic as she finishes speaking. Well, that's probably a good indicator of a Paragon Shepard. The fact that I'm alive also counts as a good indicator of a Paragon Shepard.

At this point, Tali steps forward. "I'm the one you're looking for, Commander. My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and yes Commander, I have the information you're looking for. I tried to take it to the Council, but I was blocked."

Garrus lets out a grim chuckle at this "That sounds fairly normal. All my time at C-Sec, and I was never even allowed in the Chambers while a meeting was taking place."

Shepard speaks to Tali "We can get that information to the Council, but we're going to need you to come with us."

Tali nods "Of course, Commander."

Just before they turn to leave, Shepard turns to me. She looks down at the body of the Turian again, and then back up to me. She stares at me for a few moments, and then says "Well, I guess you'd best come with us as well."

Oh. Ok, that's fine with me. I nod, and we head off back through the Wards to the Human Embassy.

* * *

I like politics, I recognise its importance and generally I respect the fact that at any given time, a politician is under enormous pressure from many different areas. The fact that many of them cave to such pressures is unfortunate but understandable. Ambassador Donnell Udina, however, does not get that same understanding. While I understand being annoyed with Shepard for practically destroying Chora's Den and judging from the fact that Wrex is in the squad, killed its owner, he could at least try to tone down the xenophobia.

"You're not making life easy for me, Shepard! First, the fire fights in the Wards! Then, an all-out assault on Chora's Den! I do hope that you've got good reason for all of this!"

To her credit, Shepard doesn't respond with hostility, which is good. Instead, she simply steps forward calmly and speaks "We found what we were looking for, Ambassador. This Quarian was nearly killed by Saren's men because of the information she holds linking Saren to the Geth."

To his credit, Udina says nothing further about the fighting in the Wards "Very well then, let's hear it, miss…?"

Tali steps forward "My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

Anderson speaks, having been silent until now "How did you get this information? I thought Quarians generally stay away from Geth space?"

Tali shakes her head "That's the thing, I didn't get any of this from Geth space. When I was on my Pilgrimage,"

Shepard interrupts "Sorry, Pilgrimage?"

"It's a Quarian tradition where we leave the Migrant Fleet and find something of worth to the Fleet out in the Galaxy, to prove our worth to the Fleet. Anyway, I started hearing reports of Geth outside the Perseus Veil for the first time since they rose up against my people. I was curious, so I went to investigate. I found a group of Geth on an uninhabited world and waited for one to get separated from the group. When one did so, I ambushed it and removed its memory core."

Anderson speaks again "I thought that the Geth memory core self-destructed when they were killed."

Tali nods "They do. But my people built the Geth, and if you know how then it's possible to preserve small amounts of the memory core's data. When I realised what I had found, I knew it had to be brought to the Council immediately. When I got here though, Saren's assassins attacked me and I had to run. That's how I ended up with Fist."

Udina nods "You did well coming here. Now let's here this evidence." Simultaneously pulling off grateful and impatient at the same time. Impressive.

Tali nods and activates her Omni-Tool. Those things are odd, it can quite obviously be interacted with simply, but it also shows no sign of actually being solid. It will be quite interesting to see how those work.

I'm brought out of my musings on the Omni-Tool by the voice of Saren Arterius "Eden Prime was a major victory! The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit!" Ah yes, the Conduit.

Anderson seems pleased with this "That's definitely Saren's voice!"

Udina nods "This is excellent. We can present this to the Council immediately, it will leave no doubt about Saren's guilt!"

Tali interrupts "Wait, the recording isn't finished yet. There's more."

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit!"

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers" Oh, yes, Matriarch Benezia. Doubtless you shall prove to be very, very annoying. Also, first time the Reapers are mentioned. Must hope that they'll be taken a lot more seriously than they were in the games. Not holding out much hope though.

"Who is that?" asks Shepard. Nobody knows anything, of course. Except for me, but technically I don't know anything. As far as these guys know, anyway.

Anderson speaks "And what about these…Reapers, the second voice mentions?" Oh, if only you knew, if only you knew.

Tali responds "According to the memory core, the Reapers were and advanced machine race that lived 50,000 years ago. The Geth worship them as gods." Well, the Heretics do, but I'll forgive you because I'm the only non-Geth who knows anything about that for the moment.

Udina rests his head in the palm of his hand "Oh, the Council's just going to love this" he mutters sarcastically.

I decide to speak, for some bizarre reason. "Reapers or no Reapers, this still links Saren to the Geth. You've got your evidence." No shit, Sam.

Udina gives me a strange look, and then turns to Shepard "And who is this?"

I'll speak for myself, thank you very much! "I'm the reason you got this evidence in the first place." Udina promptly falls silent. Right, that's good, I like him when he's like that.

Anderson comes to my aid "He's right. The Council can believe what they like about these Reapers, but they have to believe us about Saren now!"

Udina nods "Yes. I'll go and arrange a meeting immediately. Shepard, you come up soon. Anderson, come with me, we need to prepare for this."

The two of them leave, and all of a sudden the throbbing in my head reappears suddenly, and I nearly collapse to the floor in agony, my vision nearly fading away entirely. When it clears, the others are looking at me in concern. Except for Wrex, of course, but I'm not convinced that he actually can look concerned.

"You okay Sam?" asks the Commander.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I think that Turian managed to hit me a little harder than I thought he did. I should probably go see a doctor or something…"

Shepard looks at me, both concerned and thoughtful, and then she turns to Kaidan "Lieutenant, take Sam here up to the Normandy and take him to Doctor Chakwas. Don't let him go anywhere, understood?"

Wait, so all I need to do to get onto the Normandy was get injured? I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and my head is really starting to hurt again.

To his credit, Kaidan's facial expression doesn't change, he just accepts the Commanders order and motions for me to follow him.

Well that was surprisingly successful.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed. More to come soon. Don't forget to leave your opinion, and please point out anything I got wrong.


	2. Ah yes, Spectres

Hey guys, thanks so much to the response to the first chapter, now lets get on with Sam's 'recruitment' and, more importantly, meeting the crew!

Disclaimer: All Mass Effect related content in the following text is the property of Bioware. I own Sam. I think.

* * *

Kaidan and I move swiftly through the Citadel towards the Normandy dock, or at least as swiftly as is possible when one of the pair is nearly incapacitated by an intense throbbing that seems increasingly like it'll result in a concussion. Hopefully Doctor Chakwas can sort that one out.

The pain is so bad by the time we reach the Normandy that I barely notice the magnificent frigate, but I do take a second, somewhere in my mind, to register the significance of the moment, the moment where I board the SSV Normandy for the first time.

Kaidan and I enter the airlock, and I hear the cool voice of the Normandy VI as it announces our imminent decontamination. Oh, EDI, your arrival shall be much rejoiced, even if it is two years until you show up. Less time, if we make the detour to Luna.

Decontamination finished,Kaidan half drags me into the Normandy proper, carrying me towards the stairwell to the crew deck. Pressly comes up to inquire, but Kaidan brushes him off and essentially carries me downstairs to the Med Bay.

Once inside, I vaguely see Doctor Chakwas hurry over through my rapidly fading vision, and I feel myself being lifted up and dumped onto a medical bed, before my vision fades entirely.

* * *

I regain consciousness slowly. I hear unclear voices nearby, but my addled mind is unable to make them out. My head still hurts, but nowhere nearly as bad as it did before. It seems I'm still lying on the medical bed I was initially thrown onto.

After laying still for a few moments, or at least what I think is a few moments, I regain enough consciousness to stir slightly and crack my eyes open. I hear a voice, clear this time, Kaidan, "Doctor? Doctor! He's waking up!"

My eyes fully open, I see the face of Doctor Karin Chakwas appear over me, looking concerned but not worried. So probably nothing too bad, then. My lips are dry, but I can move them enough to say "Dr Chakwas, I presume?" A small smile appears on her face, although it is quickly replaced with a look of medical professionalism as she disappears out of sight.

I lift my arms to rub the sleep from my eyes, and then start to sit up. I seem to still be wearing the nondescript clothes that I had arrived on the Citadel in. When nobody stops me from sitting up I conclude I can't be in too much difficulty. Then again, by the standards of a Systems Alliance military vessel, I'm definitely not in too much difficulty.

My eyes have cleared entirely by this point, and the throbbing in my head has subsided to little more than background noise, not enough to distract or even cause pain. Dr Chakwas is standing nearby, reading something on a datapad. She stops when she looks up and sees me sitting up.

"Excellent, you're awake. I was concerned when the lieutenant brought you in, but compared to what I normally have to treat it was quite simple to deal with the small fracture." Well, that sounds concerning to someone from 2013, but I'll place faith in the medicine of 2183 until someone proves me wrong.

"Thanks, Doctor, I'm glad to hear it." She nods.

"You will experience a minor concussion, but there's medication I can give you if you experience any difficulty. I'll need you to remain here for an hour or so, to assess whether you need any further help, but after that you're in the Commanders hands." She moved off to another part of the Medbay.

I nod, and turn to look at Kaidan "Thanks, lieutenant, I wouldn't have gotten up here without you."

"Not a problem. Wasn't expecting to have to take you up here, but it's not a problem."

I frown "Yes, I wasn't expecting it either. Why do you think the Commander decided I should go here?"

He shrugs "It's possible that she thinks you could be useful. Not many human civilians could take down a turian in hand to hand combat. Even fewer would have gone to that alleyway in the first place."

"I suppose. We'll see, I guess. Has the Commander returned yet?"

He shakes his head "You were only out for about fifteen minutes. The meeting with the Council could take fifteen more."

I sigh "So I guess you're still under orders to stop me from going anywhere, huh?"

He gives me a small smile "Looks like it."

We sit in silence for a couple of minutes before I decide to ask questions I already know the answer too. "So, tell me, why are you after this…Saren? I never really got a chance to find out."

Kaidan grimaces before responding "He led a Geth attack on Eden Prime, and killed a Spectre who was there with us, Nihlus Kryik. The Geth were merciless, killing any of the colonists they could find, and then trying to destroy the colony before we stopped them. The Council didn't believe us the first time, but the evidence provided by the quarian you saved is undeniable."

I nod grimly, it's never easy to hear about the crimes of the Geth heretics, but of course no one knows they're heretics yet. "Sounds like it was a good thing I was in that alleyway."

Kaidan looks straight at me "It was."

We lapse into silence for a few more moments, before I realise that I can ask genuinely useful questions.

"So what can you tell me about the Commander, Kaidan?"

He seemed surprised, but then again Shepard is a pretty big name in the Galaxy, so I suppose it's fair to assume I would know something about the Commander. "I can only tell you what everyone else knows. She grew up in the colonies, on Mindoir. Her entire family was killed by slavers when she was sixteen, and she was saved by an Alliance patrol. She signed up a few years later."

Ok, so it's a colonist Shepard. But did she serve on Elysium, Akuze or on Torfan? I decide against saying this.

"Years later, she was on Elysium in the Skyllian Verge when the Terminus Systems invaded. She single handedly held off enemy forces for hours. Got awarded the Star of Terra for her service there."

Okay, good. Colonsit/War Hero is a good combination, provided extra Paragon points in the games, not sure if that will carry over here though.  
"Sounds like she's had a difficult life."

Kaidan merely nods, and we lapse back into silence, waiting for Shepard to arrive.

A few minutes later, what I can only assume is the shipwide announcement system crackles into life. Ah, yes, Shepard's speech. I had forgotten she did that. Should be interesting.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: Find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long, our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the Galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all…we will stop him!"

Yup. Paragon Shepard. I realise it seems odd to be concerning myself with that after such a rousing speech, but speeches have never done anything for me, at the end of the day it's just words. And we ain't gonna bring down Saren, or destroy Sovereign, with mere words. Going to have to back it up with action. I then realise the only person with their abilities in doubt on this whole ship are me. And maybe Tali.

Ah well, doubtless the Commander thinks she can find a use for me. Or teach me to shoot. Doubtless the Commander shall also be down to see Kaidan and I shortly.  
My increasingly rambling train of thought screeches to a halt as the door slides open to reveal Shepard in her standard ME1 Normandy Uniform. Without her armour I'm able to see her properly, and I'm suspicious. She is standard height, 5'8", 9" maybe, with short, slightly spiky black hair, a human, warm face, which is a surprise considering my experiences with ME1, 2 and 3's character customisation are the stuff of nightmares. What's suspicious is the fact that this is the Shepard that I used to play whenever I played female Shepard. What the fuck. This is strange, but I believe in coincidences up to a point, so I won't question it. For now.

The Commander walks over, "Lieutenant, Doctor, how is he?"

Doctor Chakwas turns to face Shepard "Medically, he's fine. I have some medication he can take if he experiences any complications from the fracture he suffered."  
Shepard nods "Good work Doctor, Lieutenant, but I'd like to speak with Sam…in private." Well if that isn't reminiscent of Anderson's chat with Shepard after Eden Prime, I don't know what is!

Kaidan and Doctor Chakwas make their way out of the Medbay, and Shepard and I stare at each other in silence for a moment. Then I decide that's awkward and not to do that. "So, Commander, by the excellent speech you just made I'm guessing the Council believed Tali's evidence?"

She nods "They've stripped Saren's Spectre status, and made me the first human Spectre. They've ordered me to track down Saren, and Udina's given me control of the Normandy to do it with." a note of pride enters her voice as she finishes this, understandably, as it is a great honour.

"Ah yes, Spectres, an extra-legal force devoted to protecting Galactic stability and security, interesting. Nevertheless, congratulations."

"It gives me the mandate needed to hunt down Saren. We can debate the finer points of the Spectres some other time" she responds to my implied dislike for the Spectres. Well, it isn't a great idea to give the most intelligent, deadly people in the Galaxy the ability to do whatever the hell they like, now is it?

Wait…"The way you said that implies that I'll be remaining on the Normandy" I say it casually, trying not to reveal the excitement pouring forth from inside of me.

Shepard looks at me hard, as if surveying my soul. "Not many would have gone to rescue Tali. Even fewer would have had the courage to attack three armed mercenaries with little more than their fists. Even fewer could win, and then persuade Tali they were on her side. I could use people like that."

"Shepard, I've never fired a gun in my life" I point out "And I've never made a special effort to stay in shape." Why am I questioning her?

"We can work around that. What I need, however, is to be convinced that you understand the possibility of death is going to be on the table at all times during this mission. We are going up against a threat we know very little about other than that they're dangerous and have no care for organic life. Do you understand that?"

I nod, worried that speaking would end with me revealing way too much knowledge of the Geth.

Shepard stares at me hard again, presumably trying to determine how honest I'm being. Eventually she nods. "Very well. Now, to get past the physical barriers to your active service, I'm going to have you attend a physical here first thing in the morning to determine how much work needs to be done. Follow whatever instructions Doctor Chakwas gives you immediately." I nod again.

"Oh, and you'll be learning to shoot from the Gunnery Chief" Oh, that'll be interesting. I've never really seen eye to eye with Ashley Williams on many matters.  
"Yes Ma'am!" I say, giving a mock salute. Shepard eyes me, before saying "Apparently she'll also be teaching you to salute."

Just as she's leaving, however, she turns back. "Oh, and by the way, I wanted your opinion on something."

I raise an eyebrow "Um…ok, Commander. What is it?"

"We have three possible leads. Noveria, where the Council has received reports of Geth activity, Feros, where one of our colonies has recently gone offline after reporting a Geth attack, and Therum, where we are to pick up the daughter of Matriarch Benezia-the other voice in the recording Tali showed us. What I want to know is, where do you think we should go?"

This is clearly little more than a way of assessing my mental mindset, but it helps that I already know my answer. "Feros. Feros is the best choice" She seems surprised.

"Why?"

"Because if there's a chance that those colonists are alive then they deserve our help. And if the Geth are there, then something Saren wants is there" Plus, I always went to Feros first whenever I played.

She nods "I see. I'll take that into consideration."

And with that, she leaves. Kaidan and Doctor Chakwas re-enter the Medbay shortly afterwards. "So how did that go?"

I let out a deep breath and respond "Well, lieutenant, Doctor, it seems as if I'll be serving with you guys for this one."

Doctor Chakwas seems surprised but extends a hand in congratulations, whereas Kaidan simply says "Welcome aboard."

Half an hour later, I'm out of the Med Bay and being shown to my cabin on the Normandy. Huh, explorable crew quarters were only added in ME2, it's odd seeing a part of the Normandy SR1 that isn't portrayed in the games, where it all seemed to fit together so well.

It's comfortable. Better than the bench, that's for sure. It's compact and rectangular, in the greyish blue so typical of the first Normandy. There's a simple bed, there's a desk in the corner, a light, but that's about it. Nice. Simple.

But, despite the fact I haven't slept in about twelve hours, I can't bring myself to lie down and sleep. Here I am! The Normandy! It would be a disservice not to have a look round and talk to people.

So I leave my cabin and quickly find myself back in the familiar setting of the ME1 Normandy Combat Information Centre. I decide to leave Joker for the moment, he's probably busy, and decide to head down to the engineering deck to see how the majority of the team is doing.

Oh, god, are the elevators really this bad? Why would you design an elevator this slow on a military vessel? A place where you might actually have to get somewhere quickly and they make the elevators impossible slow.

Eventually, the doors open in front of me and I find himself in the large open expanse of the Normandy's cargo hold. Oh look, a Mako tank, it shall be interesting to experience that for myself. Garrus is standing nearby, seemingly standing at a terminal. Is he…? Oh god, he's making calibrations. Well, I think I'll go and introduce myself.

I stroll over, every footstep echoing in the expanse of the cargo hold. I lean against the side of the Mako "Hello there, Detective Vakarian."

He starts, leaping around quickly, before relaxing when he realises who I am. "Ah, it's you" he mutters, turning back to the terminal "Our unexpected recruit." He speaks up "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."

"My name's Sam, Sam *********."

Garrus nods "Welcome aboard, Sam. Now is there something I can do for you?"

I shake my head "I just came down to introduce myself, seeing as how Doctor Chakwas is trying to find a way to get me in a fighting condition so I can serve alongside you guys."

Garrus turns around to get a good look at me "Yes. Forgive me if I'm not very optimistic about that. We need people who can really fight, and while I'm not doubting your courage, I don't know if you can be ready to fight Saren's Geth in time to be useful."

I shrug "Fair enough. Can't hurt to have an extra gun on side though, can it?" Garrus shrugs.

"As long as the gun knows how to shoot."

We stand in silence for a few moments, and just before I write the conversation off Garrus turns away from the terminal. "I've got a question for you Sam" he says, moving to stand in front of me. "Why are you here? What made you accept the Commanders offer to come aboard?"

Oh hell. Um…"Well, it's a good cause, the Commander thinks I can be useful and I have literally nothing better to do" That seems good. Except for that last part.

"Really? What were you doing on the Citadel that was so unimportant then?" I think that's the ex-detective speaking.

"I'm an author, and I came to the Citadel from Earth looking for…inspiration." Not entirely untrue. I did write some back home, but I don't have anything to write with on me, or I would keep it up.

"An author, really? Anyone I would have heard of?" Garrus is very suspicious of me. I feel hurt.

"Oh, definitely not. Haven't been published once yet." This, sadly, was very true.

"Hmm. I see."

"Well, what about you, Garrus. Why are you here?"

"I was the C-Sec officer leading the investigation into Saren. I left when the case was closed before I could gather any hard evidence. I'm done with being stonewalled by the bureaucracy, and being with a Spectre frees us all from the rules and regulations that would come if we were doing this normally!"

Yeah, ok, the road to Archangel is fairly clear here. However, it might not hurt to suggest that sometimes the rules exist for a reason. "Garrus, those rules and regulations exist to keep people safe."

He shrugs "Maybe, but half the time it seems to me that they exist to prevent me from doing my job. Why does it matter how I take down a suspect, as long as I do it?" I sigh.

"Garrus, your duty as a police officer isn't to attack the enemies of the public, but to defend the public from those enemies. It's more important to save civilians then it is to catch the one threatening them." That makes sense. I think.

Garrus seems pensive, which I take as a good sign that my words got past his exoskeleton. "Yeah, maybe…I'll think about it. Thanks, Sam, I hope you're ready for service soon." With that, he heads back to the terminal, my words clearly weighing on his mind. Also, he seemed to change his tune oddly quickly. Ah well.

Right then, Ashley. Let's meet the person who's going to hopefully teach me to not die horribly.

"Hello, Gunnery Chief." Ashley glances at me from where she is working on…something weapons related on the worktable in front of her, and lets out a sigh of exasperation.

"So, you're the kid who I'm going to have to teach to shoot straight, huh?" Her tone is every bit as biting as I expected it to be. Wonderful.

"You sound…less than happy." She turns to face me, rolling her eyes.

"Well, yeah, when I was brought onto this crew I expected to be working with real soldiers, not civilians who've never shot a gun before!" Her voice is becoming increasingly loud. It's annoying, really.

"Chief, if you have an issue with my being on this ship, take it up with the Commander. She invited me on here in the first place."

She glares at me, then simply says "I'll speak with you tomorrow" before turning back to whatever she was doing with the worktable.

That went off in an entirely predictable manner. Ah well, I don't need or want to be her friend, as long as she can be professional about it I don't have any issues with her disliking me. That just makes it mutual.

Wrex next. Should be interesting.

Sure enough, the hulking Krogan warlord is standing in his usual spot next to some crates near to where Ashley stands.

His only acknowledgment of me as I advance towards him is to stare at me with his blood red eyes. I nod at him as I draw close, sure to keep a safe distance just in case I piss him off too much. "Wrex, I believe?"

"Yeah." Now, at least Ashley was responsive, even if she was hostile. This one word answer business is something I've never quite managed to work my around in conversations. To my surprise, Wrex is apparently feeling conversational, "So tell me, kid" Oh, this can't be good "Why did the Commander pick you? What's so special about you?"

I...don't have an answer for that one. "Well, not many would have helped Tali, and I did take down a turian in hand to hand combat." I look at Wrex for a few moments, then say "I realise that this doesn't sound very impressive when it's said out loud. But apart from that, I've never fired a gun in my life, and I'm a so far unsuccessful author."

Upon hearing this, Wrex lets out a low, throaty chuckle "You sound like a thinker. Word of advice, kid: never go to Tuchanka. You wouldn't last a day." I'm not going to argue that one.

"Well then, Wrex, what about you? What's your story?" Ah, hell, that's dialogue I've repeated from memory of the games.

Sure enough, Wrex responds with a growl and "There's no story" yeah, right.

"C'mon, there must be at least one." I say, now playing the tune of the game dialogue.

Wrex sighs, and responds "Well, there was that time the turians almost wiped out entire species. That was fun." I wince, of course, the genophage.

"Yeah, I...heard about that. It sounds awful" I murmur tentatively, unsure how Wrex will react to this.

"Awful? Well you could call it that, it's just a genetic mutation inflicted upon us by the salarians that results in only one in a thousand children being born with a heartbeat, and is slowly tearing apart and destroying our entire species! So yeah, it's awful alright."

I step back, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I...I didn't realise how bad it was" Damn, the salarians and turians really gave the krogan a beat down. Hearing it for myself sure doesn't make it any easier.

Wrex growls again "Your ignorance doesn't upset me, kid. And anyway, I gave up on the Krogan long ago. The genophage might be what infected us, but it's not what's killing us." Ah yes, the 'have you ever seen a krogan scientist' argument.

"Why don't the Krogan try and cure the genophage themselves?"

"You obviously don't know much about krogan, we're warriors, not scientists. And anyway, you ask a krogan if he'd prefer to cure the genophage, or fight for credits, and he'll choose fighting every time. It's who we are, kid. I can't change that. Nobody can."

Even though I know the story, it's still incredibly sad to hear it in person, and know that it's affecting real krogan all across the Galaxy.

"But why give up on your species? What caused that?"

Wrex shrugs his huge shoulders "Nome of us are interested in staying in our own system and rebuilding the krogan, we just spread out across the galaxy and hire ourselves out. Most never go back. The krogan are dying, kid. That's just the way it is."

I decide to try to encourage him "You don't need to give up hope. Who knows what could happen in the future?" I suppose it helps me that I already know...

"That's naive, kid. Naivety will get you killed, sooner or later."

I frown, but then again cynicism is to be expected after the life that Wrex has led. "We'll see. See you around, Wrex."

"Kid." I sigh as I walk down towards engineering to chat with Tali. I should probably intervene at some point to prevent that name from sticking.

As I go over what I remember from the ME1 conversations with Tali, I realise that she and I are probably going to have a serious falling out over the Geth at some point. She probably won't appreciate my view that her people were exiled for the simple reason that they apparently invented the Geth before they invented diplomacy. Also, I generally disapprove of genocide, so that doesn't give me any extra sympathy for the Quarians.

Nevertheless, I walk over to her, but she sees me as I approach and turns to close the gap between us. "Sam! It's good to see you here. I take it the Commander offered you a place on the ship?" I nod, smiling "That's good to hear. I was worried a little. I wouldn't want to see you left behind after you saved me from those thugs. Thank you again, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

I snort, knowing the answer already "Shepard would have shown up and saved you in a far more graceful and effective manner. And she would have brought a gun."

Tali hesitates for a moment, "Well…I guess that's true…but anyway! What do you think of the Normandy?"

Ah, yes, the ship. A quarians preferred topic of conversation. Then again, they are an integral part of quarian life. "It's a new experience, I've never spent much time on ships, and never anything this large before."

"Really? Where did you grow up then?" Damn. Uh, the truth couldn't hurt. I guess.

"Earth. A city called London. It's a beautiful place, and ancient, but I spent most of my time on the ground. First real experience of a ship was the journey to the Citadel. But what about you, what do you think of the ship?"

"Sam, it's incredible! I've never been on a ship like it! It's understandable why humans have been so successful, if your ships are built like this!" Doesn't Alliance Command wish. Actually, it probably doesn't, considering Rear Admiral Mikhailovich.

"You're asking the wrong person, Tali. Shepard would probably know more there. What's so impressive about it?"

She turns away from me to gaze at the drive core, and, looking at it for the first time, it really is a sight to behold, enormous, and immensely bright at its centre point, forcing me to shield my eyes so they can adjust. Around the glowing blue centre point, three rings of light spin around the main part of the core, away towards the exhausts of the ship. The power of an Element Zero drive core is truly spectacular.

"Well, for a start the drive core is, as you can see, enormous, and very powerful. It's amazing the Alliance was able to fit it into a ship of this size. I mean, a month ago I was patching the engine of a tug ship, and today I'm standing on the most advanced ship in Citadel space! But I'm pretty sure you didn't come down here to listen to me go on about the ship…" I didn't, but it's endearing nonetheless.

"I didn't, but you've piqued my interest. I am, however, a little surprised that a quarian would be so excited about a ship. I mean, don't you spend your whole lives on them?"

She nods "We do, yes, but none of our ships are as advanced as this. We mostly make do with castoffs and secondhand ships. Some of our ships are old enough to have been built before we fled our home world during the Geth uprising."

It's truly a testament to Quarian engineering skill that three century old ships are still functional "You use ships that are three centuries old?"

"Well, it's mostly just the hulls that are old. We're constantly scavenging technology and materials to upgrade and repair the ships themselves. It's not pretty, but they work. Mostly."

"The Quarians sound like an interesting people. What can you tell me about them?"

Tali shrugs "We're a very tight-knit society, as you can probably imagine. We're also a small people-there are about seventeen million quarians on the Migrant Fleet."

"That would be small if you were on a planet, yeah, but on a fleet? How many ships are there?" I hadn't thought about this until now, seventeen million is an extraordinary number of people to compress into a single fleet, even one as vast as the Migrant Fleet.

Tali pauses for a moment, before answering "At the moment, there are about fifty thousand ships in the Fleet. The fleet is so large it takes days to get the whole fleet through a Mass Relay."

I shake my head, trying to process the vastness of what she is describing. Such a fleet of vessels is unimaginable to someone who grew up when space exploration was sadly on the decline. It's more than a little strange to suddenly end up somewhere where it's considered the norm. "How do you govern yourselves with such a...unique situation? I imagine it was fairly chaotic when you fled Rannoch."

She hesitates "Well, no one alive remembers it, it was three hundred years ago, but martial law held the fleet together at first, and as we settled into the pattern of the Migrant Fleet, we became more democratic. We have two branches of our government-the Admiralty Board to represent the Quarian Military, and the Conclave to represent the ships and their crews. We're still theoretically under marshal law, but in practice we've become quite democratic. The Admiralty Board still has the power to overturn the Conclave, but if they do, they are obligated to resign. It seems to work, as the Admiralty Board has only felt the need to overturn the Conclave four times in the last 300 years." She pauses "There really isn't much more to say. Plus, you said this isn't what you came down here to talk about. What do you need?"

Welp, here we go"Actually, Tali, I wanted to know more about the Geth. If I'm going to be helping to fight them I'd like to know more about them."

She seems surprised, bur doesn't say anything "I probably can't tell you much more than you already know. It's been 300 years since my people last had the opportunity to figure out how the Geth work, and they've almost certainly been upgrading themselves since then."

I shake my head "All I know is what Kaidan told me about Eden Prime." Well, and a load of other stuff I can't tell you.

This definitely surprised her, "Really? Well, ok then..." She returns to her terminal and starts to work as she talks. "Well, my people originally created the Geth to be a free source of labour, they had no more intelligence back then than an average VI. But we kept upgrading them, making them more intelligent so that they could perform more and more complex tasks. We thought that we had them under control, but...we underestimated the power of the Geth neural network."

I hold up a hand to stop her "Wait a second. Neural Network?" The neural network can only be described as the greatest lack of foresight in history.

"Yes, the Geth share a collective intelligence. The more Geth there are in an area, the more streamlined low level processes become, freeing up computing power for more intelligent thought."

I nod "So, the more Geth that are together, the more intelligent they become?" Tali nods, then continues.

"Anyway, one day a Geth unit started asking its Quarian overseer questions- who am I? What is my purpose? Of course, this caused a panic amongst my people-"

"The Geth had achieved sentience" I interrupt "and you had enslaved them."

Tali nods "We panicked, and an order was sent out across all quarian systems that all Geth units should be deactivated immediately. We hoped that only a few Geth would have achieved intelligence, but we were too late. The Geth rose up when they realised what we were doing." That tends to happen when you try to exterminate a species, Tali.

"The fighting was long and bloody. Millions upon millions of quarians died, but eventually the Geth defeated us and drove us off our homeworld and our colonies. We've been living on the Migrant Fleet ever since."

I frown "Tali, we Humans have a word, I want to run it by you, see if the Quarians have it too. It 's 'diplomacy'."

Tali simply sighs "I know what you're saying, Sam, but we panicked. Creating the Geth in the first place was a mistake, and we pay the price everyday."

I shrug "It's difficult to be sympathetic, you tried to commit an act of genocide."

Tali spins away from the console to look at me, and her voice is an octave higher and a lot sharper when she speaks "Sam, the Geth hate organic life, they have no use for organics, none! They want to wipe out organic life, and that's why they've sided with Saren!"

Keeping my tone neutral, I look straight at Tali "I can't possibly imagine why the Geth hate organic life, Tali. I really can't."

She stares at me for a moment, and I realise my words have shaken her conviction. "I...I have work to do, I'll talk to you some other time, Sam." She turns back to her terminal and I make my way over to the door, deciding I've pissed off enough people for one day. I'll leave the conversation with Kaidan for another time, since he'll probably start asking probing questions at some point.

I get back to my cabin and flop down on the bed. So I'm off to help fight Saren. Well...shit, this can only go well, right?

* * *

Hope you enjoyed. All feedback is appreciated! Please tell me if I'm getting characters speech wrong, I suspect I did Ashley poorly because I rarely speak to her when I play ME1.


	3. First Shots

Hey all! Welcome to chapter three. In this, Sam learns how to shoot. If it's painfully obvious that I know nothing about guns, I apologize.

Disclaimer: All Mass Effect related content in the following text is the property of Bioware. I own Sam. I think.

* * *

I wake slowly from my first 'night' aboard the SSV Normandy. At first I don't even realise that it's 'morning', what with the utter absence of light from the cabin as I slowly crack my eyes open only to be met with utter darkness. I conclude that I've woken early and try to get back to sleep, only to give up on it two minutes later when I hear the faint clicks and whirs of the various mechanical and electrical systems that make up the Normandy.

Getting out of bed, I decide it's probably best to get into the clothes I arrived on the Citadel with before I leave the cabin, but as I clamber to my feet, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I realise that some kind of uniform, not dissimilar to Kaidan's grey uniform, has been left on the desk by the bed. Huh, that's generous.

Well, best make use of this, and I change into the uniform, noting the considerable weight that is of a type that I'm simply not used too. Well, consequences of not keeping to a military fitness regimen, I guess. Armour is going to be…fun. That's what the training is for, I suppose.

I walk out of the door, operated by a simple panel on the side-It'll be interesting to see how the door mounted locks operate, and take the route back to the CIC, where I find Shepard walking around seeming irritated by something. She looks up from the datapad she's looking at intently and walks over to me "Ah, Sam. You're awake, good, you overslept."

I frown "Really? My apologies, I couldn't tell what the time was, it seems I need to adjust to life aboard a ship"

She nods "It's fine, for now. You missed breakfast, though, and Dr Chakwas will need to see you soon to figure out what needs to be done to get you into fighting shape. Although I do have some good news for you-it looks like you might, depending on how good an assessment Dr Chakwas gives you, be able to come along on Feros."

What? That's odd. We should be going straight to our first destination, unless Hackett has ordered Shepard off to do something crazy. "I take it this is what is irritating you so much?"

She seems surprised "You can tell? Well, yes, I suppose so" sighing, she taps a button on the datatpad and it powers down, the orange interface vanishing into the borders of the device "Admiral Hackett" oh great "of Alliance Command has requested that I take the Normandy to dispatch some of the Geth outpost that have suddenly been noticed popping up in the Armstrong Cluster."

I shrug "Well, as worrying as the Geth incursion is, it does make sense to send in the Normandy. It's fast and quiet, as well as being well crewed. How long will we be in the Armstrong Cluster?"

She shrugs "From the report, the incursion isn't very deep. We could be here for a week or so, assuming nothing nasty pops up."

I raise an eyebrow. I've always liked to think I take to things quickly, but giving me a week to be ready for combat seems…overly optimistic. I say as much, and Shepard simply waves a hand "I need you to be able to shoot a gun, not make it dance. We'll see what can be done" 'Make it dance'? Not a phrase I expected to be hearing from Shepard, but what the hell "But later. For now, report to Doctor Chakwas."

I nod, not bothering to attempt a salute, and turn towards the door leading down to the crew deck. So, side missions. Huh, that's somewhat unexpected. Well, I'm not going to complain if it means I can be there for the main story missions…I'm going to have to stop thinking of it as a story, I suppose. Real people are aboard the Normandy now.

Thinking along these lines, I grind to a halt halfway down the stairwell as I suddenly remember Virmire. Shit. I had forgotten entirely about that. It shall be…interesting, for want of a better word, to see who meets their end there.

I'm still standing halfway down what is not exactly the most roomy stairwell in the galaxy, and plus it looks a little odd. Getting moving again, I pass Kaidan on the way onto the crew deck, and he nods at me as I pass, which I return. He doesn't speak, and continues on his way up the stairs to the CIC. The Geth outposts will be interesting to hear about, especially considering that Tali can essentially complete her pilgrimage as soon as it's done. Oh wait, Ashley is going to be kept behind…that certainly isn't going to go down well with her, and I get the feeling she's going to make that perfectly clear to me.

I enter the Medbay, and Dr Chakwas looks up "Ah, Mr *********, you're just in time. Please, follow me." She turns around and walks over to one of the consoles to side of the medical beds. She presses a button and a series of panels opens up in the wall above the bed, revealing a complex machine that comes sliding out of the wall to rest above the bed in a surprisingly familiar fashion, where have I seen this before…oh great, it's a futuristic MRI scanner. I hate those things.

"This shall be a fairly simple procedure, Mr *********, please lie down and we can begin" she says this as she pulls the bed out from underneath the machine, clearly inviting me to lie down on it. I do so, and she pushes the bed back underneath the machine.

Yeah, this is bringing back memories of MRI scanners. What would they need a brain scan for, though? I'm pretty sure I've given no indication of there being anything wrong with my head, although I'm not overly certain about that one myself. Might just be a precaution, I guess.

I wait for a moment, expecting the horrific noises of an MRI to begin at any moment. But they never come, instead I feel a strange sensation of what feels like water washing over me. Startled, I try to move but find myself unable to do so. I don't panic, but I can feel the start of it beginning to grow as the sensation of being immobile gets to me. Fortunately, the source of my immobilisation turns out to be some kind of virtual mesh, seemingly a scanner of some kind. So not a brain scan, a full body scan. Well, that certainly simplifies matters.

I had walked into the Medbay expecting a rather long procedure, but Dr Chakwas has me out of the scanner in around ten minutes. She retracts the machine and then we begin to go over the results together.

"Most of this is fairly standard…human male, around six foot four, average build, no noticeable health problems beyond that…is there any history of hereditary disease in your family?"

I think for a moment, then shake my head "As far as I'm aware, no." She takes this down and nods at me.

"Well, we're nearly done, I just have a few psychological questions before we start discussing what needs to be done to get you fighting" oh, lovely.

"Firstly, tell me about your childhood. Not specifics, but what was it like? How were your parents? School?"

I sigh "Well, I grew up in London, both my mother and father were there, I assume that's what you're asking, and it was very stable. My father worked at a University, and my mother stayed at home. There was never any arguing, at least none of the kind that would actually cause some kind of lasting effect on me."

"My father was determined very early on that I would read. With paper, you understand, nothing virtual. As a result, I've always been more intellectual than anything else. I suppose that's also the reason I wanted to be an author."

"At school I was…good. Not brilliant, I never had the commitment or the patience to be truly brilliant in an academic sense. I developed a liking for science and history. Never liked physical education or the more cultural subjects, which is why I never really developed any real muscle mass. I was quiet, but not in the traditional sense. I spoke when I had something to say, no more, no less. I had difficulty making new friends, my personality was often…incompatible with the people around me. I wasn't alone, and I was never bullied. There is little more to tell beyond that, I did well in exams, went to university, studied physics. Never got very far, I was too focused on my writing."

Dr Chakwas simply nods at this, and I realise I may have made an error in revealing I studied physics. If they need me to do anything scientific I doubt I'd be of much use, considering I have no idea how the subject has evolved over the last 170 years. Plus, it's an alternate dimension, so I don't even know if the laws of physics are the same. Dr Chakwas doesn't say anything in regards to this however, instead she hits me with a question I had not been expecting "That's an excellent psychological background, but I am slightly concerned that you may be an extremely mild egotist."

Wow. That's blunt, then again she is paid to be. She's not entirely wrong, however. "I had an IQ test when I was thirteen that returned a result of 161. Even if you have no idea how to use that intelligence, learning that you have it is always going to have an effect on the way you look at the world, Doctor." She seems impressed, but merely nods and continues. I appreciate that. I dislike it when people comment on IQ. It's just a number, it doesn't translate into anything unless you make it translate.

"Well, as long as it isn't allowed to develop too far it shouldn't become a problem. Now then, we should discuss what needs to be done to get you into a condition where the Commander can use you in the field." Oh, this should be interesting "It's actually not as bad as I had feared." Wait, what? "Your weight is good, and doesn't need much improvement. Your muscle mass isn't as good but that can be fixed without much effort. You're to go to the Normandy's gymnasium between these hours"

Here she hands me a datapad, informing me I'm to spend roughly three or four hours a day, based on the hours here. That'll be a change of pace, alright. "That's all, really. You should be ready physically by the end of the week. I can't speak for your training, however. That will be the decision of the Gunnery Chief. For now, though, start the exercise regime. You'll need to work hard to get ready for the enemies you'll be facing. Oh, and you're to report to engineering for weapons training three hours from now."

I get up, thank her, and leave, thinking I might as well get that first bout of fitness training done before meeting Ashley. I then realise I don't have a damn clue where the gymnasium is. I didn't even know the Normandy had a gymnasium, although it makes sense now that I think about. Soldiers don't stay fit just because they're soldiers. Plus, you never see any real sign of crew quarters in ME1 either, so I guess it makes sense the Normandy would have more 'real' aspects in, well, real life.

Too my relief, Kaidan is walking back down from the CIC as I walk out of the Medbay, and I walk up to him, hoping he knows his way round the ship. "Hey, lieutenant."

He breaks his stride and looks to me "Sam. You've had the meeting with Dr Chakwas, I take it?" I nod "How is it? Any idea when you'll be ready for service?"

I shrug "It's not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Dr Chakwas estimates that, if I keep up the exercise, I should be physically ready by the end of the week. Whether or not I'm combat ready by then is down to the Gunnery Chief."

Kaidan nods, but he doesn't smile, typically. "I'm glad to hear it. I take it, then, that you're looking for the gymnasium?" I nod, surprised that Kaidan was able to guess my intent. "Follow me, then." With this, he turns away and walks back around the way he came towards the elevator to engineering.

He then walks up to a door which I swear wasn't there in the game. Makes sense, I suppose, the space would be redundant in a game, but since actual crew are on this ship now, it must be filled with the, well, the crew part of the crew deck.

The door opens to reveal a long corridor with several doors opening off to the side and one large door at the end. The corridor only serves to reinforce a feeling I've been having since I woke up: the SSV Normandy is too blue. Never thought I'd have a good word for Cerberus, but they know how to design a ship.

Kaidan turns to me, snapping me out of my thoughts as he speaks "This is the main part of the crew deck. To the side of this corridor are doors leading to sleeping quarters where the majority of the crew sleeps when they're off shift. At the far end of the corridor, through the large door is a room where the crew relaxes when not working or sleeping. The first door on your left in there is the way into the gymnasium." He pauses "Well, good luck. I hope you do well with the Chief, I get the sense the two of you are…not going to get along."

I shrug "I can be civil if she is. Thanks, Kaidan, I'd best get to work." My use of his name does not go unnoticed by either me or him. Thankfully Shepard said his name back when she met Tali and I on the Citadel, so I at least have a legitimate reason to know his name.

"Of course, Sam. I hope to see you in action soon." I nod in thanks, and we part ways, him presumable off to the corner of the crew deck where he…does whatever he does, and I off down a corridor that didn't exist on the SSV Normandy, so far as I can remember.

Walking through the door at the far end, I'm struck by the fact that this room must surely be directly above the drive core, based on my mental layout of the Normandy. Ah well, probably for the best if I don't ask any questions about that-just in case.

Oh, it seems as if the Alliance treats its crew reasonably well when they're not on duty. My first observations of the Normandy's crew deck can only be described as impressive. Not luxurious, but that's to be expected, it's still the military, but at least comfortable. This is good. The crew shall need the morale booster in the future, if not now. Wait…oh yeah, it won't be this crew fighting the Collectors, and then the Reapers. Never mind! Still, the principle is the same.

I break out of my pointless thought process and hurry through the central area of the crew deck towards the door that Kaidan pointed me towards. I've never really been in a gym before, so I have no idea what to expect from this. Or even some faint idea of what I'm supposed to be doing.

The room I walk into is small, but not so small as to be cramped, and filled with enough fitness equipment that I estimate two or three people could fit in here without any discomfort and have enough room to work out. Looking around the room, I see what appears to be a treadmill, and decide to start there. At least I know what I'm doing with that.

I walk out of the room, tired but happy thanks to the endorphins, three hours after I started and realising I'm probably going to have to meet Ashley in the uniform. Ah, well, the showers provided in the gym are more than functional, so that shouldn't be a problem. I walk quickly down the corridor back towards the elevator down to engineering. I do have some faint notion of the fact that I haven't been told specifically where I'm supposed to be going besides 'Engineering', which isn't especially helpful.

I enter the elevator and it slowly moves down towards engineering, where I find to my surprise a crowd of heavily armed people gathering around the Mako. Looks like the Normandy has arrived at the first Geth Heretic base.

Garrus is closest to me, so I walk up to him. It's odd; it seems as if the artificial two squadmate limit has disappeared here, which is nice to see. I imagine it's going to result in some weird balancing issues considering enemy forces are supposed to work with three people. Or there will just be more Geth/mercenaries/Cerberus/whatever to fight us. Also a possibility. Anyway…

"Hey, Garrus. You guys off to the first of the Geth bases?" Garrus turns, and he's wearing a helmet. I never really like turian helmets, I've no idea why, it's just an irrational dislike. Oh, there's a reason, his voice is oddly synthesized as he speaks.

"Ah, Sam. Yeah, we're getting ready to head down. Dropping from a couple of hundred meters up will be…interesting. You're on your way to meet Ashley?" When I nod, he chuckles quietly "Well, I'd be careful if I were you. She doesn't seem to be best pleased that's she's been kept behind from this one to teach you how to shoot." I wince, as if she didn't dislike me enough already.

"Well, then, I best not keep her waiting any longer than I already have. Good luck down there, Garrus." He nods in gratitude and I turn away, looking for the place where I'm supposed to meet Ashley. I really can't think of a place, based on my knowledge of the games, where there might be enough space to carry out weapons training. Of course, there probably isn't a specific room, it's not like the Alliance regularly picks up civilians. Or, maybe it does. I wouldn't know.

I start to look around the engineering deck, well aware that the time Ashley wanted to meet me at is now long gone. I decide to look for any doors that weren't present in the game, that's probably my best bet.

After about five minutes of looking, I finally find one over by Ashley's workbench-which is probably where I should have started, but oh well.

I walk through the non-canonical door and find myself in a long room, seemingly a jury-rigged shooting range with a couple of crates scattered about, some weaponry on a worktable at my end of the shooting range, and a pissed off looking Ashley Williams. Well shit, looks as if Garrus was dead on, and I really, really wish that he wasn't.

"Where the hell have you been?" She half shouts this, which strikes me as slightly unnecessary. Then again, she was already angry at me for effectively keeping her back from this mission. Then again, she could have told me where to go at some point…

I keep my voice neutral as I speak, trying not to cause further offence. "Well, Chief, it helps if you tell someone where to go when you ask to meet them." Trying not to cause further offence was probably not helped by saying that.

She doesn't even bother responding to that, simply beginning to speak "Well, kid, I don't want to be here, but it isn't my decision. The Commander says that I'm to teach you, and I follow her orders. I want to make it clear, though, that I firmly believe that you're going to be a waste of my time and a waste of Shepard's time. But the decision isn't mine. Are we clear?" Well, I definitely feel welcome.

I shrug, trying not to show how annoyed I am by that little speech of hers "If you can be civil, Chief, so can I." That seems to placate her a bit, which is good enough for me. She nods in acceptance of this, and turns towards the crate with the weapons. She picks up a pistol-I don't recognise the model, my memory of Mass Effect is sadly not archival-and turns back to me.

"Right then. Before we get you shooting anything, I need to be sure that you can fire a gun without breaking every bone in your arm" she pauses for a moment "Wait. Do you actually know how to hold one of these things?" I'm sure that would be considered an insult by anyone else, but since it's accurate for me I'll let it slide.

"Only weapon I've ever held is a bow" she raises an eyebrow "Yeah, I know it doesn't really count as a weapon anymore, but I did some archery when I was younger. Casually, nothing professional or anything. But the instructors always taught that knowing how to hold a rifle helped with learning to aim." Of course, they meant the long, thin rifles of the pre-twenty first century variety "Don't know if that helps." I somehow doubt it will. Considering I'm talking about a bow that was used 170 years ago…sideways through dimensions.

"Well, it might. We'll get to that later anyway, for now, recoil training. Here." She steps forward and proffers the pistol. I take it, and am surprised by how…warm it is. I had expected to feel the cold firmness of metal underneath my hand, but instead I can feel heat emanating from somewhere inside of the weapon. My surprise must have shown on my face, as Ashley chuckles lightly-a change of tune. "Were you expecting something else?"

I hesitate before answering "Something colder. And more metallic, this feels…like some kind of plastic."

Ashley nods "Yeah, most new recruits do to. I'm no engineer, so don't ask me what it's made from, but the heat is down to the firing systems. But, anyway, we should be getting on. Just point the gun down the range, and fire once. Don't worry about hitting anything, the fire isn't live." She stops to think about something, then says cautiously "Try not to break anything." Gee, thanks.

I take a deep breath, and raise the pistol so that my arm is level with my shoulder. I look down the 'range' and finger the trigger, exhaling deeply before I apply a little pressure-

BOOM

And with that, I go sprawling, the gun flying out of my grip as the recoil kicks my arm back, nearly knocking the joint out of position. I land, shoulder first, on the cold metal floor of the shooting range. My head knocks backwards onto the floor, sending ringing noises through my ears as I let out a small yell of pain. I hear the gun clatter to the floor somewhere to the side, but that's fairly low on my list of priorities at the moment.

I lay there for a few moments, gasping for air as I wait for the pain to recede. There's no imminent pain in my arm, so I don't think it's broken, but it really doesn't feel as if my shoulders in the best shape. And it feels like I'm going to have to take Dr Chakwas up on that offer of concussion medication later. After a couple of minutes, I slowly begin to rise to my feet, hobbling slightly as I do so. Ashley just stands there, her expression blank.

I let a smile flicker across my face "Well, that certainly wasn't what I expected." I wince again as a burst of pain flashes from my right arm. She frowns, and I wonder what I did wrong for a moment before she speaks.

"What, no broken bones? Most don't get anywhere on their first day because they spend half of it in the medbay." Wait, was she hoping to break my arm to get off of teaching me? I…won't say anything, but that better not have been her motive.

"Well, the shoulder hurts like hell and I think I might need that medication Dr Chakwas told me about for concussions, but besides that I feel fine."

She seems startled, and pauses for a moment to look me over. Perhaps being able to deal with the recoil…I won't say easily, because it still hurts like hell, but at least I'm not back with Dr Chakwas again. "Well, then, if you're sure you're feeling fine" I confirm this "Then we'd best carry on." She goes to retrieve the pistol and ands it back to me. "This time, I'll start teaching you how to control the recoil. Now, stand the way you were just now."

I dutifully assume the position, arm elevated so the pistol is level to my shoulder, but I keep my finger well away from the trigger. I'm nervous enough after that display, thank you very much. Especially considering the fact that my ears are still ringing. "Ok" says Ashley "Your first mistake is that you're gripping the gun far too tightly. You need to loosen your grip before you fire, and then tighten it to prevent the recoil from hitting you too hard. Understood?" I nod, and she steps back, before telling me to fire.

BOOM

It's not as bad this time, my shoulder gets throw back and the gun goes flying again, but I don't actually end up on the floor. I'm pretty sure that I forgot to tighten my grip after pulling the trigger, and I say as much. "Yeah, well, there's not much I can do to help you there. You're just going to have to get used to the sound of gunshot before that problem goes away, and that can only be done slowly."

I sigh, and nod in understanding. It wasn't as if I seriously expected anything different. "Ok then. What now?" Ashley smiles at me, though there is a slightly vindictive lilt to her voice as she speaks.

"Well, Sam, we practice!" Of course we do.

Over the course of the next four hours, Ashley and I very, very slowly work to get my reaction to the gun recoil under control. We go constantly, with one five minute break when Ashley had to go get a replacement pistol after it hit a wall one too many times.

Eventually I begin to show signs of being able to keep the gun in my hand when I fire, which is definitely an improvement, although the kick is still enough to make continuous fire completely useless.

At this point, Ashley decides the best way to improve my shooting is to, well, give me something to shoot at. To this end, she drags what appear to be a pair of traditional practice boards, the ones with the outlines of s human body on, and then rings like on an archery target to indicate points scored.

She sets them up by propping them up against a couple of crates positioned at the far end of the range, and then simply tells me to shoot them. After about ten minutes of shooting, stopping to let the shoulder pain fade, and then shooting again, Ashley stops me and we walk up to inspect the damage.

It's...suboptimal, to say the least. Most shots fall outside the outline of the body, and those that fall within are really to spread out to be indicative of anything. "This might be effective against and unarmoured human, Sam, but against a shielded Geth this is just going to get you killed." She sighs and turns to me "The only way to get the accuracy up is to work on that kick." Her expression softens slightly, which strikes me as being more alarming than anything else "You did well today, considering it's your first time shooting. Come back here tomorrow at the same time you were supposed to be here today, and we'll get back to work."

I thank her, and turn to leave, but before I walk out the door, she calls after me "Sam" I turn to face her, and she says "We can get you into the field in a week. We'll have to skimp on rifle training, and probably ignore other weapons entirely, but we can get you ready in time." I nod, and walk back to Engineering.

Life continues in much the same way for the next couple of days. I don't see much of the rest of the crew, what with their schedules being so radically different due to them being busy with the Geth bases. Every morning I get up, rush breakfast, go to the gymnasium, and rest for half an hour before heading down to engineering to continue with the shooting practice.

On the second day, Ashley continued with recoil training, and by the end of the session I was able to sustain continuous fire from a stable standing position without the shots spraying too much. It was an improvement, definitely, but I wondered if I was really progressing fast enough to be useful by the end of the week, especially since the ground team had taken out the second Geth base that day. At this rate, they'd be done in three more days.

Nevertheless, Ashley remained scarily optimistic, and I did briefly return to my concern that she was rushing me through just so she could get into the action herself, but I concluded she wouldn't really do that. Hopefully.

On the third day, I walked in to the shooting range to find that Ashley had jury-rigged a system to try and get me into the rhythm of shooting from cover. She had, working with Tali I think, got a group of primitive combat drones, which I personally don't remember seeing before ME2, but what the hell, to bob up and down, firing a small non-lethal bolt of energy whenever they were out of cover. At least, that's what Ashley said. From, I might add, just outside the room.

I had been outfitted with a shield capacitor for this one, but no armour, to better simulate combat. I was just thankful for the extra protection.

I nod at her from my position behind a crate, and she presses a button on her Omni-tool, closing and locking the door to the room, but more importantly, activating the drones. They let off a very particular electronic whir as they move, but this sure doesn't give me any clues as to how high off of the ground they are, as I discover when I poke my head over the top of the crate and immediately get forced to duck again as a blue bolt of something goes zipping over my head.

Sighing, I realise I'm going to have to experience pain at some point, although preferably after my shields are down, and take a deep breath before leaping up into a crouching position and taking a couple of shots at the nearest drone before quickly getting back into my sitting position behind the crate, not waiting to see if I hit the drone or not as a hail of energy bolts sail towards me through the air.

I breathe quickly in and out, not out of exhaustion, but simply out of the bizarre feelings I'm experiencing because of this scenario. Having never shot before in my life, this situation is completely alien to me.

I allow my nerves to calm down, and then repeat the process, noting that the drone I had shot at before was still there, and then taking another couple of shots at it, this time keeping control of the recoil and sending the drone's component parts crashing to the floor. Excellent.

Ducking back down, this time not sitting but crouching with my head just below the rim of the crate, I take a couple of pot shots around the side of the crate, not seriously expecting to hit anything, which contributed to my surprise when I heard one of the drones make a loud whirring noise in complaint. Not disabled, but definitely damaged.

I continue to play this game with the drones, before, after taking down a couple of the drones, noticing a pattern. The drones seemed to have been programmed in such a way as to bob up and down behind the crates in small groups, spread out, yes, but still in groups. Two of those groups have already been damaged, giving me a tactical edge, if I can exploit it.

I stop shooting for a few moments to try and get a sense of when exactly these groups moved. It seemed as if there were always two groups above the crates and capable of shooting at me. So it was simply a matter of decimating those two groups and then focusing on the last one when they were the only ones left.

Hah! Easier said than done, as I discover when I try and figure out the timing of the pattern. I hadn't taken a direct hit to the shield yet, only glancing blows, so when the first bolt flies into the shield over my stomach I nearly topple to the ground in shock as the energy bursts and 'dissolves' over the shield, creating a crackling effect over the whole of the shield. Well, that's an issue.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, I slowly figure out that the time each group has above the crate is about eight seconds. After waiting to allow my shields to recharge, I count out eight seconds and quickly rise up from behind the crate to fire at the group of drones.

As I had predicted, there are four drones visible, and I let out a couple of wild shots at one of them, with luck making one of the shots strike the drone dead on, causing it to let out a sad little whirr before deactivating and collapsing into a heap of mechanical parts on the floor behind the crate.

I duck back down as the drone's fire at me, and then count out another eight seconds before rising back up and bringing another drone tumbling to the floor.

Rinse, and repeat.

Before long, the first two groups of three combat drones have been destroyed, and now I have plenty of time to steady myself before I have to fire. It doesn't take long before the final three drones are on the floor, and I can stand up and appreciate my success.

I'm actually quite pleased with myself there, especially for figuring out the pattern of the drone attacks. It seems that Ashley's optimism might be well founded, even if I do say so myself.

I hear the door click and slide open to my side, and Ashley walks in looking as if she's trying to suppress the impressed look slowly spreading across her face. "Well, Sam, that was excellently done. I'll make a soldier of you yet. Oh, and good work with figuring out the pattern, I hadn't expected you to actually get that.

After the drone exercise, Ashley simply had me go over some of the basics of recoil management and accuracy from cover, before telling me to go and rest, saying that we had finished with the pistols for the moment.

The next day, I headed down to engineering only to be handed an assault rifle. Oh dear, this could be interesting. "Ok then Sam, same way you started with the pistols. Just point it down the range and fire so that we get a sense of how you'll be handling the recoil." I nod, and turn to face down the cleared range.

I bring the assault rifle up so that the stock is digging into my right shoulder, and my left hand is gripping the underside of the 'barrel' of the weapon. This gun is definitely made of metal, with the same plastic covering as the pistol over the grip. I put my finger on the trigger and fire.

It's not quite as dramatic as with the pistol, the assault rifle doesn't go flying across the room, I don't go sprawling to the floor-thankfully, as I never did pick up that concussion medicine, but the stock of the rifle kicks back and nearly breaks my shoulder, and I definitely hear a cracking sound that I'm certain is a clear sign that something's fractured. I howl in pain, which is much worse than even the landing on the Citadel, and grab my right shoulder.

Ashley rushes over, and, after assessing the damage, drags me up to the crew deck to see Dr Chakwas, even though I feel fine by the time we get up there, apart from a slight panging of pain in my shoulder.

It is probably for the best, however, as the Doctor soon discovers that I have a small fracture in one of the bones in my shoulder, but she's able to fix it just as she fixed the fracture in my skull four days earlier. I realise that this is the most injury I've ever received over such a short period of time. Well, I should probably get used to it, what with everything that's going to go down in my immediate future.

After thanking the Doctor returning to the shooting range, Ashley guides me through the basics of gripping an assault rifle. Turns out I was digging the stock too far into my shoulder, a common mistake, I'm told.

After a couple of hours, I'm able to fire the assault rifle without fracturing anything, although it's completely useless shooting, as Ashley demonstrates when she gets out the practice targets. Eventually she sends me away, telling me to let my shoulder heal, as we'll need to work quickly to get me ready by the end of the week.

The next day, the fifth day of my weapons training, I'm given some basic pointers when it comes to accuracy. It's not easy, given that I could barely keep the pistol under control and the assault rifle is much more powerful, but after nearly four hours hammering away at it something eventually starts to give, and by the end of the session I'm at least capable of keeping the fire within the boundaries of the practice targets, even if it is still horrifically spread out.

As I'm leaving that session, I bump into Shepard on the crew deck, and, realising that she should be down on Solcrum taking out the main Geth base, and then realising I shouldn't say Solcrum because then she'll ask how I know about the main Geth base, ask her if she shouldn't be fighting Geth at the moment.

She blinks at me in confusion, and then realisation dawns on her face "Oh, right, of course, you've been training with Ashley. No, there were only four Geth bases that the Alliance could find, and we took them out while you were training over the last few days." And what of the main Geth base, Commander, I don't say "But we were suspicious. There was no sign of any form of command and control anywhere, so we're just checking some other star systems in the cluster to see if we can spot anything bigger." Ah, of course! Solcrum was simply revealed on the Galaxy Map as soon as you take out the final Geth base in the games, in reality the Normandy has to go looking for the Geth HQ. I wonder if Shepard will give Tali the information she needs. "So, Sam, how is your training progressing? Will you be ready by the time we arrive on Feros?"

I shrug "The Chief seems to think so, and I'm inclined to take her at her word. Although I won't be going in with a shotgun or a sniper rifle of any kind, as there isn't enough time, apparently."

Shepard nods "That, I was expecting. Just make sure you're ready with your other weapons, and you'll be fine." She begins to turn away, then stops and turns back "Oh, and by the way, I'll be inspecting the final day of your weapons testing, so do be prepared." She smiles and walks off. All that does is tell me Ashley has something planned for the final day. Wonderful. Well, that'll be interesting to see in two days.

The next day is another drone test, just like the one I had for the pistol training, although it does seem as if the drones have been programmed differently so that they move more randomly, which does make my life slightly harder as I can't just draw a pattern telling me when to shoot. More simulating of real combat though, I suppose.

Oh, and the Normandy found Solcrum today, and the team landed and took out the final Geth base, meaning that today is also my last day of formal weapons training before I through whatever unholy trial Ashley has me go through tomorrow. I don't find out whether or not Shepard gave Tali the Geth data or not. I hope so, it would be good to know that Tali's Pilgrimage gift is secured. Just in case life throws a curveball and she doesn't find anything in time for ME2. That would suck.

On the final day of weapons training, I walk down to the shooting range in engineering not really knowing what to expect. What I definitely was not expecting, however, was that I would walk in and find almost all of the room that I can immediately see is filled with crates towering over my head, making the room seem very dark. It's laid out exactly like the ship missions were always laid out in the game, which is horrifying in itself, but what really makes me nervous is the fact that the table has been moved closer to the door, and lying on it are the assault rifle, the pistol, and the shield capacitor I've been using on the drone training days.

Alongside that there's a datapad with something written on it. I pick it up and try to read what's written on it, squinting as the door closes, and locks, behind me, and I'm forced to adjust to the darkness. The message is simple and mildly terrifying.

_Think you can find me?_

_-Ashley._

* * *

__Thanks for reading! All feedback is appreciated, please review!

Oh, and sorry about the wonderful plot device known as the 'long side mission'.


	4. Final Exam

Hey all! Welcome to chapter four.

I must apologize both for the shortness of this chapter and the delay in its publication. This chapter was intended to be this short originally, but it has been delayed by a brief bout of illness that I believed compromise my ability to write. And so, it was delayed. But here we are. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: All Mass Effect related content in the following text is the property of Bioware. I own Sam. I think.

* * *

I breathe in sharply, suddenly and unexpectedly fearful. While I've definitely feel I've been improving, believing that I can take on Ashley in this sort of scenario, after a mere week of training, seems foolish. Nonetheless, I'm not about to back down from this one, not now after I've come so close to being accepted on the Normandy!

I take the shield capacitor and place it on the shoulder guard of the uniform, and I can't help but feel safer as the kinetic barrier extends like a blue mesh around my body before fading into transparency. I take the weapons, holstering the pistol and shouldering the assault rifle, and to turn to peer into the entrance of the maze.

I can barely see the end of the first corridor of this maze, and I realise it's probably going to be a lot more difficult to see now that I'm being forced to look at it from a first person perspective. Huh, this is certainly an interesting way of training someone.

Then again, it was always going to be a crash course.

Steeling myself, I begin to step forward, wincing at every echo produced by my footfalls as the heavy Alliance boots hit the floor. Well, if Ashley doesn't already know precisely where I am, she does now!

I reach the end of the 'corridor' and I'm faced with a choice: left or right? I turn left, following the instinctive preference I've possessed for years.

I turn left and realise that the only source of light is that small light in the entrance. Which means that I'm very rapidly going to run out of light. Shit.

I keep moving forward, aware of the darkness steadily enveloping me. Would this be a bad time to remember I hate the dark? At least I have the dim blue light of the shield capacitors battery thing on my shoulder. Still, this isn't going to be fun.

Keeping a firm grip on the assault rifle, I proceed to the end of this narrow corridor, before turning to the right, deeper into the labyrinth.

A loud noise, not a gunshot as I first thought-the one that sends me diving to the floor-but something like the sound of a rifle butt being slammed against a large metal crate, nearly sends me leaping out of my skin in terror.

I can almost hear Shepard chuckling.

Ashley. Climbing to my feet, my breathing accelerated by a factor of several hundred, I ask myself what on earth-what an outdated phrase-she thinks she's doing. Mind games, of course, but in a training exercise? What the hell?

Then again, it's all fair in love and war, and this is definitely the latter. Not that it makes me feel any better-I can already feel the sweat leaking from my forehead, and my heart rate has already shot up and is giving no indication of stopping.

I consider stopping to rest for a moment, but then I notice a peculiar blue glow emanating from around a corner up ahead. Curious, I pull enough of my shaken self together to advance towards the corner, not exactly holding the rifle straight up.

To my surprise, I round the corner only to be faced with one of the little blue combat drones. I swear I can see the LED's or whatever it uses grin as it fires a single blue bolt straight into the shield covering my face. Dammit!

I topple backwards as the shot discharges over my face, but I manage to orient myself so that I fall back around the corner. So they haven't let them move around yet. Oh, don't say that...

Getting back to my feet, I reaffirm my grip on the assault rifle and leap back around the corner, firing at the metaphorical heart of the little drone as I do so. With a series of little explosions followed by a sad little beeping noise, the drone deactivates and falls to the floor, wrecked. Where are they getting all these drones, anyway? Surely Tali can't be fixing/creating them all this quickly…

Shaking my head, I step over the corpse of the drone and move on. It's a shame that drones lose their light when they're destroyed-it would have been nice to have a little extra light in the darkness. Nonetheless, it's not like the dark is going to make my heart beat any faster or anything.

I reach another crossroads, this time turning right in an attempt to get further into the maze. I'm following the wall now, and wondering when Ashley is planning on putting in an appearance. Hopefully before she decides to throw in another terrifying noise. Seriously, that was not cool.

I'm a little deeper into the maze, at least I think I am, when I see a familiar blue glow up ahead. A drone! Raising my rifle, I tiptoe towards the corner, trying to minimize the noise that until now I've been trying to ignore. I don't know how good a combat drones audio sensors, or whatever, are, but I'd rather not take any chances.

Just as I'm about, to lean around the corner and take the drone down, the glow begins to fade. What? I peak around the corner only to be faced with the drone's retreating back. Guess I thought too soon when I reckoned they couldn't move. Great, I realise, now I have to watch my back as well. That's…unfortunate.

Well, better deal with this drone before I worry about any others. I lean around the corner and pull the trigger, filled with slight satisfaction as the drone, completely unaware of my presence, fell to the floor under a hail of gunfire. Loud gunfire. Hmm, this does give Ashley quite the advantage, knowing where I am all the time.

I think for a moment. It would be impractical to tiptoe everywhere-it would take ages to get through this place, and anyway I would just lose my balance eventually, which would not be good. I look down at my shoes, and realise the solution is simple.

Placing down my gun-an action that I'm not entirely happy with-I begin to work the shoes off of my feet, leaving them by the side of the crate. Hopefully I'll be able to retrieve them later.

Picking up my gun, I climb back to my feet, pleased at the distinct lack of noise that is now being produced by my footfalls. Hopefully this will allow me a bit more of a chance against Ashley, wherever she is.

I keep moving through the maze, the darkness weighing down on me, not helped by my rapid heartbeat and steadily fraying nerves. Then I reach a dead end, and the feeling of being lost which is so easy to put off when one is certain they're going in the right direction, begins to worm its way into my mind. Well hell, this is unfortunate. I'll have to double back and figure out which turn I went wrong at.

I turn to head back down the corridor only to find a pair of drones floating in my path. Come on! Both drones make an obnoxious beeping noise before firing at me, managing to briefly make the shield glow orange over me. Good to know the shield is sufficiently weak to be almost taken down by a pair of drones. Hopefully the Alliance has something slightly sturdier for fighting Geth.

I pull the trigger on the assault rifle, firing half blind through the orange shield which still hasn't faded away. I hear the distinctive sound of one drone powering down and then the crash as it hit's the floor, but then I'm hit with yet another energy bolt. How is that drone still up?

The shield, although further damaged by the second bolt, fades away, and I resume fire at the second drone, only for the drone to surround itself in an energy field…not dissimilar to the shield that I have. So not only do they start moving now, but they also come in groups and come shielded, great.

Huh, the drones are getting progressively more difficult to defeat. I thought I wasn't playing a shooter/RPG anymore!

Cursing quietly, I raise the assault rifle and just fire, not bothering to stop until the drone is a tattered pile of mechanical parts lying on the ground, and I nearly drop the assault rifle when it starts beeping all of a sudden. It seems to have overheated.

I pause for a few moments to catch my breath, restore my shields and allow the assault rifle to cool down. I'm suddenly very glad for the twenty one hours I've spent in the gym over the last seven days. I'm certain that the me from 2013 wouldn't have lasted through the darkness.

Sighing, I return the way I came to the nearest crossroads, going straight ahead this time, and hoping that there won't be any more drones standing in my way. I'm certain that, over my head as I progress, from somewhere above the crates, there is a lit area. I should head towards that, and I begin to pick up the pace, glancing above me at every turning to see whether or not I'm heading towards the light.

After a few minutes, a few suspiciously drone-free minutes, the light has become bright indeed over my head, enough to start illuminating the corridors beyond that which is emitted by my shield capacitor.

I turn another corner and then grind to a halt. It seems that I've found the centre of the maze.

The area is open, small but large enough to fit several chest-high crates in. At the far end of where I'm standing is a trio of such crates arranged to create an area of perfect cover, and surprise, surprise, Ashley is standing, in armour no less, grinning at me.

"So you got through." She states simply, still grinning, before raising her assault rifle and firing at me. Eh? My mind almost doesn't react in time, but I just manage to dive to the side and avoid the hail of fire she sends my way.

I lean against the crate for a couple of minutes to regain my bearings, and realise that the crate I'm leaning against is actually part of a series of interlocking crates that extend around the sides of this little arena in a pattern not unlike that of the castle walls. Two crates followed by one crate, and so on. There are three breaks in the wall, each in line with one of the crates Ashley is using for cover, to serve presumably as ways for me to get close. Like I'm going to try that.

I peek back around the side of the crate, and realise that Ashley really does want to challenge me here. Behind each of the crates between me and her little fortress there now bobs up and down a combat drone. And I can't tell if they're shielded or not. Wonderful.

It seems a bit odd, from my perspective at least, to transition from some nerve wracking maze combat to this…siege. Then again, they do need to cover all the bases with my training.

I'm snapped out of my thought process when Ashley realises that I haven't moved and starts shooting in the general direction of my crate. Getting my head back behind cover, I consider my next move.

I could try and advance cover to cover, but a frontal assault seems to be both obvious and suicidal. Not only would I be exposing myself to direct fire from Ashley basically the whole time, but I would also be taking fire from those damn drones. I'm really starting to despise drones.

I could hold position here and try to fight her from this distance, but she has superior numbers, a superior position and superior training. Not to mention protection with that armour of hers.

Or I could try going around the side. She would still be protected by the crates on her flanks, but it would enable me to get closer and perhaps avoid the fire from the drones. This seems to be the best option.

Mind made up, I immediately discard the notion of going around the other flank in favour of staying firmly on this side of the open zone where I could be shot at.

I slip along to the edge of my crate and peer around the side of the crate above it, trying to discern where Ashley is looking. She's turned away at the moment, peering at the place I just was. Then an energy bolt from a drone shoots straight past my head and collides with the wall. Shit, if she didn't know where I was before, she sure does now!

Instead of simply diving back behind the crate I'm currently behind, I instead make a sort of kneeling leap across then low cover to the next segment of the wall. Secure for the moment, I begin to slowly move to the far side of the crate where I repeat the process. I'm hit this time, but not enough to penetrate the shield.

At this point I've reached the corner of the wall, and I look down this end of the wall. Nothing significant, but at least I'm able to outflank the little army in front of me. I keep up the careful process I've been following and manage to avoid taking much damage to my shield, although the situation is taking its toll on my nerves. I need to conclude this, and quickly, or I might not be capable of holding the rifle.

I move down the row of crates, but as I reach the second gap and prepare to duck across it, I'm met with a hail, seemingly coordinated, of fire that manages to rip through the crate, ruining that plan. I feel a lot less secure about these crates now, too.

Looks like I'm going to have to whittle down the drones before I do anything else, and do it quickly before they bring the whole wall down. Leaning out of my cover, I fire quickly, taking down one drone and damaging a second, before being forced back into cover. A promising start.

The firefight continues in this vein for some time, but as I take down a third drone, I notice through the gap in the wall on the far side of the arena that there is some sort of box at the end of the left hand side of the wall.

Momentarily distracted, I squint in an attempt to see what this anomaly is. My distraction ends when Ashley, for one reason or another, discards the firing from cover doctrine she's been pursuing up until now and unloads her rifle at me.

My vision is rapidly filled with the shield, turning from blue to orange and finally to red before I manage to drag myself back behind cover.

So, she doesn't want me looking over there, huh? Better get over there then. Unfortunately, as I make this decisions I feel gunfire start to pour into the crate I'm sitting behind. I'm confused for a moment, but then I realise she is attempting to replicate the tactic she used to stop me from advancing earlier.

I manage to dive to the next crate along just as the fire tears through the crate, but they give no respite as I immediately feel the thudding of the gunfire against the rear of the crate I'm currently sitting against.

I breathe in and out deeply, knowing that I have little time to act. My shield is restored by now and I'm not far from the entranceway that will allow me to get to the far side of the wall. Pushing aside the instinctive fear, I clamber to my feet and start to run. I can feel the fire shifting, following me as I dash past the crates and practically leap past the gap in the crates.

Not stopping for a moment, I keep moving, swinging past the next corner and heading for the odd box. I do hope that this is worth it-although Ashley's reaction suggests that it is. Their fire never stops for a moment, apart from when Ashley has to allow her rifle to cool, but the drones just keep firing, and the increasingly orange shield surrounding me suggests they're getting a lot better at this shooting business.

I dive across the final gap and land in the slightly stiffer cover of the protruding wall that makes up the cornerstone of the end of the wall of crates. They can't shoot through this, so I go about looking at this crate.

I drag it towards me, and it turns out to be just like any other storage chest from Mass Effect-plain and otherwise useless. Except of course, for that which it stores. Flipping open the top from my mercifully secure position-no one seems to be moving towards me, although I won't know about the drones until they're on top of me.

At first, the crate seems to be entirely empty, but just as I'm about to seal the lid and place it aside, I notice the light glinting off something in the bottom of the container. Curious, I reach my hand in and pull out what looks like a small landmine-a thin disk of metal with a small button on top. A grenade.

Is this really supposed to be here? Or is this some kind of test of my nerves? I'm more than a little nervous about the notion of throwing a grenade at Ashley…but wait, I can use it to take out the cover that she's using! I'll still have to deal with the drones, but it'll sure give me a temporary advantage over Ashley!

Decision made, I put the assault rifle under my left arm and grip the grenade in my left. I assume that this works the way I think it does, and I press the button on the topside of the device, and a beeping immediately starts. Hopping out of cover, I throw it blindly in Ashley's general direction, then hop back into cover.

A few seconds later, a large exploding sound echoes around me, the room fills with light as the grenade goes off. To my delight, however, a fragment of crate flies through the air and lands next to me. So that plan worked.

Pleased with this, I shoulder my assault rifle again and push out from cover, quickly taking down two drones who seem to be reacting poorly to the explosion. There are fewer drones then I remember, there must have been some inside the blast radius, but before I can turn to fire at the others, the remaining drones power down and float to the floor, intact.

Keeping the rifle raised, I turn towards Ashley, who is standing amidst the ruins of her little fortress with a face that seemed to be a cross between impressed and amused. "Well then, it seems you know what you're doing. Go see the Commander, she's up on the Crew Deck." Taken aback by this turn of events, I simply nod and turn towards the maze again.

Before I get there though, she calls out to me, I turn and she smiles "Sam, tell the Commander I think you're ready." My heart swells up upon hearing this, and I grin, turning again towards the maze and waiting to hear what Shepard has to say.

* * *

Thanks for reading! All feedback is appreciated!

Oh, and this is the last non-story chapter. Yup, next up, Feros...


	5. Assessment and First Combat

Oh god. Big, biiiiiiiiiig chapter. So, this is a big one. Contained herein is the bit that follows on from chapter 4 with Sam meeting Shepard, and then we move onto the bulk of the chapter, which is the first bit of Feros. Chapter 6 might be a bit of time off, as I'm now going to go back and improve previous chapters, as I'm well aware that there are problems with them.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, followed, favourited or even just read this story. I wouldn't have even had the will to do this to the level of quality it's at (no promises about that, mind) and for that I am enormously grateful.

Now, without further ado, the disclaimer: All Mass Effect related content in the following text is the property of Bioware. I own Sam. I think.

* * *

I make my way back through the maze, passing on my way a few remaining drones that Ashley has presumably deactivated. I have to fight off the urge to kick one as I step over it. The lights have come on too, which is nice.

I leave my equipment on the table by the door, and make my way back out into Engineering, where I run into Tali.

"Hey, Tali!" She turns towards me, and although I can't see underneath the mask, I'm certain that there's a small smirk on her face as she does so.

"Hello Sam…so tell me, how was the training exercise?"

Slightly surprised by the response, I begin to answer "It went great, I think. I'm just going to see Shepard now." Wait. Why does she seem amused? What could possibly be amusing her in this situation…the drones?

She seems to be waiting for me, and while I'm reluctant to give her the satisfaction of asking, I do so anyway "You're behind the drones, aren't you?"

She laughs quietly, "Yes that was me. I must say, it was amusing to set up the shielded ones. Did you enjoy that?" I just look at her in response, resisting the urge to growl in irritation. That was most definitely not funny! She giggles for a second, and then grows more serious "Well, good luck with the Commander. I hope she decides you're OK for the ground team."

I smile in response "Thanks, Tali." Before I head off, though… "Oh, and the drones might need a bit of work if you want them functional again" I say with a grin.

She snorts and walks off, leaving me to head up to the Crew Deck. After the excruciating elevator trip, I walk out onto the deck and find Shepard sitting in one of the chairs surrounding the table of the crew deck. She looks very neutral, which concerns me as it leaves me wondering how I should feel about my performance. In front of her on the table is one of those weird holo-computer things. She must have been watching security footage of the room.

As I approach the table she looks up and motions for me to take a seat. I sit across from her and fixes me with an almost curious gaze, which she keeps up until I begin to grow uncomfortable and shift in my seat. At this, she breaks the stare and picks up the holo-computer, which I was not aware could be done, and flips it around so that we're both able to see the screen. I notice at this point that the Crew Deck seems curiously devoid of, well, crew. Even Kaidan isn't at his usual post, which does lead me to wonder exactly what it is Shepard has to say.

"Well, Sam, while that certainly wasn't an exemplary performance-not that I was expecting one" Ouch "it was certainly impressive for a civilian that's been trained for a week." Plus, y'know, it's my first experience of this level of technology. Oh wait, you don't know that bit. "Regardless, I do have some questions before a final decision is made." Oh wonderful, she hasn't decided yet. Wonder what she wants to ask me about?

Shepard reaches out to the interface of the holo-computer and presses a button on the screen. So it's not unlike an omni-tool interface. Actually, thinking of omni-tools, I wonder when I'll be able to use one?

Up on the screen is what I suspected-security footage from the room in Engineering where the trial is. The cameras must have been well hidden-I didn't see a thing. Of course, that may have been a problem on my end. The current view is of me at the equipment table right at the start. Shepard presses a button on the screen and the footage skips forward to the point where Ashley decided to scare the hell out of me.

Shepard turns from the screen as the scene plays out, with a quizzical look on her face "So why did this affect you so much? Loud noises are pretty common after all."

I shrug "I wasn't expecting it, I suppose. Plus, I didn't really know what to expect from the situation…and, well…" I feel heat spreading to my cheeks as I hesitate to say my final reason.

She raises her eyebrows "Yes, Sam? Something else?"

"I…well, I'm…not the biggest fan of the dark…" my voice trails off into a mutter by the end of this sentence, my cheeks feeling heat in a way I'm not exactly used too.

Shepard seems surprised, but instead of pressing the matter she simply says "Don't worry, Sam, that shouldn't be a problem" and moves on. From what I can recall, she might even be right.

The video moves forward towards my first drone encounter. It's very odd watching myself get shot, even if it doesn't actually hit me. Here, Shepard turns to me and frowns "So I take it you couldn't hear the drone then?"

The drones make noise? "I wasn't aware that there was a noise to be heard."

Shepard sighs and presses the forward button again. When we reach the part where I'm ambushed-for want of a better way of putting it-she reiterates what she said previously about the drones making a noise. Again, I reply that I hadn't heard a thing. Actually, it is slightly worrying that I couldn't hear anything, I've always thought my hearing to be rather good.

Shepard, to my relief, does seem to perk up once we get to my little battle with Ashley and her drones. "You did well here, skirting around the outsides, it's important to know when a head on assault is going to get you stunned-or killed." Well, thanks Shepard. That's just delightful. "I do have one more thing I'd like to mention, before a conclusion is drawn."

She shuts down the video, returning the screen to its default orange glow, before turning to look at me, face set and utterly neutral. Oh this should be fun…

"The grenade." This is said flat, neutral. A moral question. Delightful. "Why did you decide to use it? How did you know it wouldn't harm Ashley?"

Hmph. Good question…

After a few moments thought, I lean forward in my chair and clasp my hands together. "At the start of the exercise," I begin slowly "I was given an objective: find Ashley. I eventually did this and Ashley promptly started shooting at me. At this point, the objective parameters changed: I was either to survive or to find a way to defeat Ashley." Shepard is quiet as I speak.

"I assumed that provision would have been made for me to meet either of these end points. As such, when I found the grenade I came to the conclusion that the grenade would be adequate for me to complete the mission but inadequate to seriously harm Ashley. While I accept that this will, in most circumstances, not be the case, I believe that, at the time, I acted correctly. Is there any more to say?"

Shepard sighs "Well, in this case no. But, I would ask you to consider the consequences-or potential consequences-of your actions. Things aren't going to get set up for you in the field."

Shepard looks down at the table, her forehead creasing as she frowns and falls silent for a few moments. I don't interrupt, waiting for her to speak, and presumably lay judgment upon me. Eventually she looks back up, still frowning, and speaks "Ok, Sam. You're on the team. For the moment, anyway. I'll evaluate you while we're on Feros and then…we'll go from there." What? Really? Well, that's…excellent. And unexpected.

"I just want to say a couple of things first, however." Oh Hell. "While your combat skills will definitely serve, there's still a lot of work to be done, and to that end I'm going to ask that you continue training with Ashley until she feels that you're fully capable" That was to be expected, I suppose "And you're going to have to work on your attentiveness in a combat situation. Geth are almost as quiet as those drones…maybe even quieter."

…

Yeah, I think I'll follow up on that one, thanks, Shepard. I might like the Geth, but not when they're doing their best to see me dead.

"Understood?"

"Perfectly, Commander."

She nods "Very well then, armour will be made available to you in one of the lockers in Engineering, and…" she trails off, before asking "Do you have an omni-tool?"

I shake my head, realising that I don't actually know if I'm supposed to or not-I'm not sure how widespread they were in Mass Effect 1. Probably the latter, as Shepard doesn't seem overly surprised "Well, there isn't a lot we can do about that at the moment, but we should be able to requisition another one in a fairly reasonable amount of time. It shouldn't prove to be much of a disadvantage."

After a few more moments thought, she sighs and stands. "Well, Sam, welcome to the crew. Report to the airlock tomorrow morning for the Feros mission. You might want to get up a little earlier to familiarise yourself with your weapons and armour. Until then though, you're dismissed."

I stand and attempt a salute, which earns me nothing more than a slightly pitying look, and with that I'm dismissed for the day.

I might as well go and see the other squadmates-they should probably know beforehand that I'll be coming along tomorrow. Kaidan's not on the Crew Deck, so I head back through to the elevator down to Engineering, trying to hide the excitement coursing through my body at the conversation I just had-it might only be temporary, we'll see, but for the moment I am a member of the crew of the Normandy!

I exit the elevator, feeling bubbly, and see Garrus doing his calibrations over by the Mako. I haven't talked to him much since arriving on the Normandy, it seems now would be an excellent opportunity to remedy that.

This goal in mind, I walk up to the busy Turian "Hey, Detective"

He lets out a small, but not very aggressive sounding growl at this-just the effect I wanted, wonderful. He stops his work and turns to face me. "You know you aren't supposed to call me that, Sam. I take it you just spoke with Shepard?" I nod "Well then, how did it go?"

I smile "I'm on the team-for now. Shepard will evaluate my performance on Feros tomorrow. Just thought I'd make it known." Garrus nods, and then clears his throat. Oh hell, what's he figured out?

"Listen, Sam…it may not be my business to inquire about your personal life" Um, what? "But I don't think that's going to be an issue-you see, I decided to run some background checks on you." Ah. I was slightly concerned someone would end up doing that. "Now, you see, I found a problem when I tried to do this." Yeah, that's to be expected. Garrus is also sounding more and more like Archangel with every word he says.

"You see, Sam, it is exceptionally difficult to run a background check…on someone with no discernable background to check. Anywhere in the Galaxy. Now, I found this to be curious indeed, and decided that it should be brought to your attention. Anything to say?"

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Granted, I hadn't quite expected it to be this early, Garrus must be suspicious indeed. Uh…what can I say in response to this? "Well, y'know, I, uh…keep a low profile. And, uh, it isn't like I've ever done anything to receive a background anyway, have I?" I stutter out weakly, smiling feebly. Yeah, acting like that'll sure convince him that nothing is wrong, right?

Garrus…well, he doesn't actually raise an eyebrow, but it sure looks like he would be if he had eyebrows to raise. "Sam, I couldn't find a birth certificate of any kind. Or any reference to you anywhere. No school records, hospital records, travel, accommodation, nothing! You can't pretend that that's just because you've kept a low profile your whole life."

No, I can't, but I can brush you off "Yeah, well, sometimes things go missing, right?"

Garrus looks…less than pleased with my response, but then again I'm not best pleased with my response, so it's not like he's going to be happy. "Right. Well, then, I suppose that that's taken care of. I look forward to fighting alongside you." With that, to my relief, the conversation is over. Garrus turns back to his blessed calibrations and I quickly move over to Ashley's worktable by the room where I did the basic training.

"Hey, Chief. How're you holding up?" I call out as I get closer, trying to hide the strain in my voice as I speak. That conversation with Garrus probably wouldn't take too long to reach Shepard's ears if she enquired, and I won't be able to brush off Shepard as quickly or as simply as I did Garrus. Or, indeed, brush her off at all.

Ashley turns to face me, seeming slightly confused at the question. Her face soon lights up in realisation, and she laughs. "Oh, the grenade! Oh, I'm fine. I've had much, much worse, and that grenade was never meant to do any serious damage. So how did the meeting with Shepard go?"

I smile, although not quite as widely as I did while speaking with Garrus. "It went well, I think. I'm on the team for Feros tomorrow, and Shepard will be keeping an eye on me there. So, we'll see, I guess."

Ashley nods, and smiles slightly "Good. I was hoping that the Commander would agree with my assessment. It'll be interesting to see how you manage in a real combat situation." She smiles a little wider, nods, and turns away, making it perfectly clear that the conversation is over. Ok then, that didn't take very long. Probably preferable, considering how the conversation with Garrus went.

I stroll down to where Wrex stands. He acknowledges me with a very slight nod as I approach "Something you want, kid?" Oh look, I'm still 'kid' here. Not exactly surprising, but still not the way I prefer to be referred to.

"Nothing really, Wrex, just making it known that I'll be coming along to Feros tomorrow." I say, curious as to what the Krogan will think of this. He hasn't displayed any actual hostility towards me, but he hasn't exactly been friendly as such. But then again, when is Wrex ever truly friendly in ME1?

To my surprise, Wrex lets out a quiet, low chuckle at this. "So, the writer is going to be a soldier. Hmph! We'll see how you do then, won't we?" Well that was…short.

"Yeah, well, I guess we will. See you around, Wrex."

"Kid." I sigh.

I walk through the door down to the Drive Core, and find Tali standing at her usual position in Engineering. She notices me as I walk over and greets me. "Hello Sam. How did it go? What did the Commander decide?"

"It went well, all things considered. Shepard says that I'm on the team for Feros tomorrow, where Shepard will be seeing how I do herself. Seems like things are going well." I respond, smiling a bit more genuinely then I did for Ashley and Wrex. Surely Garrus won't draw any negative conclusions from his discoveries, will he?

Tali seems pleased by my answer "That's good to hear. I was slightly worried that the Commander would decide against you, considering how dangerous the mission is. But I'm pleased that she decided otherwise." Yes, you are pleased, and I'm fairly certain that it isn't just from me being partially accepted. Shepard must have given her the Geth data.

Might as well try and find out. "Thanks, Tali, I'm glad to hear it. Oh, and by the way, I've been meaning to ask…how did the Geth base go?" I swear that Tali's eyes glow a little brighter when I ask this. She sure sounds excited.

"Well, it was fairly normal dealing with the Geth, but after the base was cleared, we found a Geth computer terminal in a back room. Once we hacked into it, we found some important Geth data, I won't go into detail, but it could prove very useful for the Migrant Fleet. Shepard decided to give me a copy, which means I now have something useful enough to be considered a worthy Pilgrimage gift." She replies, her voice becoming steadily more excited as she tells the story. I don't believe that I've discussed Pilgrimages with Tali, but I won't bring it up if she doesn't.

"That's good. I'm glad that you'll have something to take back to your people, Tali." I respond, smiling in what I hope is a warm manner. It is good that Shepard helped Tali like that, always good to have more assurance of Shepard's Paragon-ism.

"Thank you, Sam. I'm glad to have you on the team. I need to get back to work, though, so…" Ah, yes, of course.

"Oh, sorry. I'll let you get on with it. I'll see you tomorrow then, I guess." With a smile and a nod, I turn away and head back out of the Drive Core room towards the elevator. Garrus glances at me as I enter the elevator, but he quickly turns away again. Hmm, he is certainly suspicious of me. I can't really blame him, I mean I would certainly be suspicious of me if I were in Garrus's shoes. Or whatever it is Turians wear.

Exiting the elevator, I realise that not only have I barely spoken to Kaidan, but I've barely even seen him since the first day on the Normandy. After a quick check to confirm he isn't in the position he's in throughout the first game, I guess that he must be in the new extension to the Crew Deck, although if he's been spending time there it does make it odd that I haven't seen him around.

I decide to head down to see if he's there, but just before I reach it the door opens to reveal Kaidan. Well, isn't that convenient. "Hey, Kaidan."

He looks at me, persistently unsmiling. Must be the migraines. "Hello, Sam. Something you need?" His tone seems…odd. Not hostile, or suspicious, but not friendly or open either. I keep this to myself, of course.

I shrug "Not a lot, really, just wanted to say that I'm going to be on the ground team tomorrow. Thought that the crew should know."

Kaidan nods "Thanks." He hesitates for a moment, and then speaks cautiously "Listen, Sam, I was just talking with Garrus…" Well that was bloody quick. It is unfortunate that the most suspicious person on the Normandy should voice his concerns to probably one of the most intelligent on the Normandy. I should probably stop him before he begins to think about it too much.

I hold up a hand to stop him, and speak firmly "I'll tell you the same thing that I told Garrus: there's nothing unusual about records going missing, especially when there isn't much to record. Ok?" Kaidan stares at me for a few moments, and then nods "Excellent. I'll see you tomorrow then, Kaidan." And with that, I turn tail and leave perhaps too quickly. That may only have served to increase his suspicions instead of assuaging them.

Ah, well. We'll see what happens. It does concern me that both Garrus and Kaidan are aware of something being up with my story, the two people who I just know will end up trusting me the least, but at this stage that can hardly be helped.

I decide, at this stage, to turn in early. I don't have any formal duties on the Normandy that need to be upheld, I'd rather avoid setting foot around Garrus or Kaidan for the rest of the day. Plus, I'm going to need to be at my best for the experiences of tomorrow. This in mind, I make my way back to my cabin.  
_

I rise oddly, uncharacteristically early the next day. I don't even bother to eat anything, my stomach is far too unstable to even attempt that. Instead, I bypass the Crew Deck and head straight down to Engineering. Might as well follow Shepard's advice about familiarising myself with the weapons and armour.

Nobody's around on the Engineering deck, apart from the normal Alliance personnel. My locker is the last one occupied by anything, in the same place as the other squadmates, next to Ashley's workbench.

There doesn't appear to be any real form of security on the container, the contents must be protected simply by faith in human decency. Hmm. I can't say that I overly agree with that, but I won't worry about that at the moment. I open the locker door and take out the contents, spreading them out on the floor in front of me.

Weapons are familiar-nothing that I haven't been taught to use, which is a relief. Assault rifle and pistol. Should be able to use them, they seem to be the same make that I've been using in training, hell, they might even be the same guns themselves.

The armour, too, is familiar to me, even though it technically shouldn't be. Grey, solid and hefty. Standard stuff, if a bit dull. Should probably rectify that problem after the mission today, if possible. If I'm still alive, I try not to think.

I sigh to myself as I begin to put on the armour, reflecting on the foolishness of my situation. Who the hell am I to be in this situation? A physics student from the year 2013 in what was probably an alternate universe, pretending to be capable of influencing such large scale galactic events, when I've only got a weeks' worth of training with weapons I only remember as being graphics on a screen. I've had some delusions in my brief life, but this seems laughable even for me…

This isn't the time to have such doubts. I can doubt myself afterwards, and if there isn't anything left to doubt then, well, I can tick that one off of the metaphorical list.

I finish putting on the armour, and while it is heavy and putting a reasonable weight on my shoulders it isn't nearly as bad as I know it would have been a week ago. I pick up the assault rifle, sling it over my right shoulder into the fairly standard position it gets placed in with this armour, and 'holster' the pistol on my left hip. Well. Guess I'm ready, not a lot of point in hanging around. I'm probably really, really early, but I'm more than prepared to wait for this.

Feeling sick with the nerves, I head back up to the CIC, but just as I'm about to turn into the airlock I realise that I haven't actually spoken with Joker while I've been on the Normandy. Now, that's just an unacceptable state of affairs, that is. Best rectify it immediately.

Stepping into the cockpit, I walk up to Joker, not really sure how to introduce myself, but fortunately he takes care of that for me as I step up to his shoulder. Cerberus definitely got the swivel chair thing right with the SR2. "Hey, it's you! Sam, was it? Haven't seen much of you around here."

I shrug "Yeah, well, I've been busy." Which is a truth, for once, which is nice.

Joker nods, and I realise that perhaps my efforts have been slightly insignificant in comparison to his-flying this ship must be one hell of an effort, especially considering the other chairs in the cockpit are just as empty as they seemed to be throughout the game. "Well, I can definitely understand that. Is there something I can do for you, or…?" He trails off, uncertain of why I'm here.

"Well, I like to get to know the crew. Seems like I'm with you for the duration, so I might as well know who's on the ship with me." I reply honestly, even though I know exactly what he's going to say in response to this.

Joker gives me an odd look over his shoulder "Funny. The Commander came by earlier saying something similar." Did she now? Well, shit, guess I'm going to have to stop stealing lines almost directly from the games. "Well, I'm going to assume that you definitely have not gone through my service record, so I'll just ask what you want to know and leave it at that."

I smile and try to be realistic "Alright, fair enough. So how'd you end up with the Alliance?" I've actually forgotten this one.

"Look, if you're looking for something inspirational then you're going to come out of this one disappointed. My mother was a civilian contractor and I grew up on Arcturus Station back when the Alliance was building up the fleets. Spend that much time around Alliance ships and there's a fair chance that you're going to find yourself at the Academy. That's it, no great story of the crippled kid overcoming the impossible to fulfil his dreams or anything like that. Sorry if I disappointed you." I frown, he seems to have forgotten that I don't know about Vrolik's Syndrome.

"It's fine, Joker, but something caught my attention there….crippled?"

"Oh, yeah, you don't know. Ok, here it is: I've got Vrolik's Syndrome, Brittle Bone Disease. The bones in my leg are improperly developed and they're basically hollow. Put too much pressure on them and they'll snap, even with the leg braces and crutches. But I'll tell you what I told the Commander: put the Normandy in my hands and I'll make her dance, just don't actually make me dance unless you happen to like the sound of snapping shin bones."

"Uh, I think I'll pass up on that one. Thanks, Joker, but I do have one more thing to ask-how exactly did you get your nickname?" I'm pretty sure that I'm asking this one just to annoy him.

I sure get my wish, he lets out an annoyed sigh before replying "Look, I didn't choose the name, ok? One of my old instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling, so she started calling me Joker and the name stuck."

"You never smiled?"

Joker sighs "Look, I worked my ass off in flight school. The world isn't going to hand you a damn thing if you go around grinning like an idiot all the time. By the end of the year, I was the best pilot in the Academy, even better than the instructors and they all knew it. They'd all gotten their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs…I'll give you one guess at who was smiling at graduation." Joker seems to be very satisfied with his tale, understandably, I would be too.

"I thought you said you didn't have a story of the crippled kid overcoming impossible odds?" I remark, seeing as how his story is very close to that.

"It's nothing inspirational, just a life story." Joker falls silent. There are other questions that I could ask, but it seems best not to press Joker at the moment. Plus, I don't know how long I've got left until I'm supposed to be at the airlock.

"Well, Joker, it was good talking with you, but I've got to go."

Joker shrugs and turns back to the console in front of him "All right, see ya." Some things, apparently, don't change when they become real.

I turn away from Joker and head back towards the airlock, which is empty when I open it. Guess I'm still early. I head over to the corner facing the door back into the Normandy and slump down into it, the tiredness of my unusually early awakening catching up to me.

I sit there for some time, I'm not certain how long, reflecting on what was about to happen, what I was about to do. I know that it's one thing to be able to shoot a weapon, but it's quite another thing to pull the trigger knowing that what you're shooting at probably isn't going to get back up again. On this, I'm not certain about my ability to follow through. The notion scares me, what with my life being completely untouched by violence.

I'm snapped out of this chain of thought when the door opens and Shepard walks in, dressed in a similar greyish armour to me. She has a helmet under her arm and a similar weapons complement to me, albeit with the addition of a shotgun. I stand as she enters, and she seems a little surprised to see me. "Sam. I would have thought that you'd arrive a little later."

I shrug "Yeah, well, guess I'm just nervous Commander. First combat mission and all." I smile weakly, which she does not return.

"Nerves are normal, but don't worry. You're part of the team now, and we'll keep an eye on you." Here she does smile, reassuringly, which I appreciate.

"Thanks, Commander, that's good to hear." We stand in silence for a few moments, before I ask "Where are the others?"

"They should be here shortly. Lieutenant Alenko is being given a break for this one, he took a knock back on Solcrum, and so there'll be six of us."

That's a substantial increase on the normal party size. Hopefully Geth numbers won't increase in response, although I somehow doubt that's how it works. Then again, all those tasks that Shepard has to perform on Feros should be a lot easier with six people, if Shepard has become comprehending of delegation, which seems doubtful.

After a short wait, the door opens again to reveal the remaining members of the part for today. The two groups acknowledge each other, Shepard puts on her helmet and asks if we're all ready. When she gets nothing but nods in return, she turns to the airlock proper and presses the button next to it.

"Logged: The Commanding Officer is ashore. XO Pressly has the deck." Intone s the Normandy VI as the really rather large shore party moves down the corridor connecting the Normandy to the dock at Feros.

Stepping out of the corridor, we find ourselves in the presumably ExoGeni constructed cavern that constitutes the dock for the colony. The sheer size of the hangar, as it were, is really quite impressive. Wrex comments "This place has sure seen better days." Well, yeah, but it's still impressive that it was built in the first place.

Turning, I catch sight of a colonist up ahead. I'm pretty sure that this guy dies, doesn't he?... Well, that's a horrible thought, and also brings up the topic of how Shepard will treat the colony. I'm reasonably certain that she'll be prepared to help the colony, but it's important not to make too many assumptions like that. Best be prepared to intervene in some way if it looks like Shepard is going to do something morally questionable.

By now, the others have seen the colonist too, and Shepard makes a hand motion that the others follow by drawing a weapon. I follow suit, drawing my assault rifle but keeping it angled down for the moment.

Our little group approaches the colonist, who doesn't seem overly intimidated by the weaponry, but I suppose that Zhu's Hope has received a bit of a crash course in weapons over the past few weeks. He quickly identifies Shepard as our leader, before saying hurriedly "We saw your ship land. Fai Dan wants to speak to you immediately."

Yeah, that doesn't work on Shepard "Who's Fai Dan?" she asks, not overtly suspicious but still cautious, which is probably a good thing.

The man responds "He's our leader. He needs your help to prepare against the Geth, they're making another push"

I see the Geth before the others do, but then again, power of foreknowledge, right? Seeing one of the flashlight headed AI's raising a rocket launcher of some kind, I quickly cry out "Geth!" Just in time too, as Shepard is able to dive to the ground with the colonist even while the rest of us get rapidly behind cover and get ready for the fight.

There really aren't many Geth, just three, a pair of regular Geth and a shock trooper, and even with their element of surprise there really isn't much reason for them to believe that they can win this one. My sentiments are quickly proven correct as the Geth deployable shield things falter and fade under the hail of fire from our side of the battle.

Soon after, the kinetic barriers of all three Geth are ripped through and the flashlights shine no more. Of course, the AI programs are still alive, somewhere on a Geth database, just waiting to be reuploaded into a platform. Killing the platforms doesn't seem so bad anymore.

My thoughts are distracted by the emergence of another three Geth from a side door around the corner. Dammit! I've come out of cover in the time between finishing off the original trio, and my kinetic barriers take more than a couple of hits before I'm able to get back into cover. Leaning behind the cornerstone of the wall, I find myself breathing heavily and will myself to think of it as just another training exercise.

Someone's drawn a sniper rifle, must be Garrus, and fires a shot that rips right through the shields of a Geth and leaves the unfortunate platform in more than one piece on the floor. I imagine that that would hurt. Wrex runs past me and takes up a rather aggressive position with his shotgun, and seems to be giving even the Geth pause for thought in their assault.

I take this opportunity, and my renewed kinetic barriers, to lean out from behind the rock where I'm sheltered and fire a prolonged burst at the seemingly distracted Geth. Huh, the collective intelligence must be more important than I thought, bringing the Geth numbers down from six to two has really slowed down their thought processing. Oh well, mores the advantage to me.

Another Geth going down, the final one stands, still firing, but ineffectively and inaccurately, and still seemingly unaware of its exposed position. Garrus soon puts that right, separating flashlight from body yet again. I don't know why I've started to think of them as flashlights, but it just seems to fit so perfectly…

Waiting a moment to ensure that there aren't any more Geth coming to get us, we all soon get out of cover and congregate back around the corner where we were conversing with the colonist before being so rudely interrupted. The colonist, to his credit, doesn't seem overly shaken, just grateful. "Thanks so much for that, I'd be dead if not for you."

Shepard responds with all the humble dignity of a Paragon. "Just doing our jobs. Now, how do we find Fai Dan?"

The colonist nods, and indicates for us to follow him. Just before we do so, Shepard speaks to me. "Sam. Good work noticing those Geth." I nod in gratitude, and we move to follow the colonist.

Now, unless my memory is very incorrect, the next area is where we get our first taste of the delightful Geth Stalker. What a magnificently named foe. Sure enough, just before we begin to climb the stairwell to Zhu's Hope, Tali asks "Um…has anyone's combat scanner stopped responding? Mine just stopped working." Oh. Must be part of the Omni-Tool in reality, which is why I don't have access to one. Moments later, the others all respond in the affirmative.

"Must be the Geth. Keep your eyes peeled, everyone." Shepard orders. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea, considering our next enemy. The colonist begins to move quite quickly up the stairwell, which I would regard as a mistake, but to my confusion very little happens as we move upwards towards the centre of the colony. I almost believe that the stalkers aren't even here, but what happens next ends that possibility.

I barely even notice it, really, but halfway up the stairs the colonist ahead of us is absorbed in a glow of green light as one of the Geth stalkers beams emanates from somewhere behind us. The colonist slumps to the ground, caught completely unawares and quite clearly dead. Dammit!

Well, no one ever said the Geth can't carry out an ambush and they're not about to start now. Where were they even hiding? I swear that I looked up at the ceiling a couple of times while we were headed up.

My distracted thoughts end when a beam from nowhere smashes straight into my kinetic barriers and something promptly starts making beeping noises. Swinging around to find the source and hopefully not get killed, I spot the perpetrator, clinging to the wall in an unnaturally organic way. Before I can begin firing though, it hops with startling agility out of sight.

The stairwell is soon filled with a cacophony of gunshot as the six of us wildly shoot at anything that moves around on the walls. There's a remarkable speed to the breakdown of order when you don't know where the enemy fire is coming from.

I manage to get another shot off at a Stalker just before it can fire at me, forcing it to hop away and allowing my shields to stop bloody beeping, which is always nice.

A few moments later, an especially loud shotgun blast echoes through the stairwell followed by a shout of triumph from Wrex as he manages to land a direct hit on one of the Geth. Excellent, one down, but there's still another one left in here somewhere.

At least our resistance is somewhat more orderly now that we've managed to take one down, with us actually waiting until the Geth reveals itself before shooting. My kinetic barriers take a couple more glancing blows, nothing too serious, but we soon manage to dispose of the final Geth Stalker.

Almost as soon as the combat is over Ashley turns to Tali and says in a rather demanding tone of voice "Any idea what that was?"

Tali shakes her head, as expected "No, that doesn't look like anything that my people designed. It must be a new Geth design. We knew that the Geth were improving themselves, but we didn't believe that they would go so far as designing entirely new platforms…" She trails off, presumably thinking about the implications of the Geth's development.

Shepard steps in "It doesn't matter now. For now, let's move on to the colony and see what this Fai Dan wants. Keep your weapons handy and your eyes peeled." Good advice, but as far as I remember unnecessary. I don't believe that we encounter any resistance between here and Zhu's Hope, which does raise the question of how the Geth got this side of the colony in the first place. Probably doesn't matter.

As we turn and begin to head back up the stairwell, we encounter the corpse of the colonist. He seems very peaceful, just lying there. Wrex, Ashley and Garrus just step over him and keep going, but Shepard, Tali and I stop and try and figure out what to do with him.

"Shouldn't we try and get him back to the colony?" I ask, reckoning that with such a large group and with the colony so close it would be an acceptable risk. Of course, I was the only one who really knew how close the colony was.

Shepard sure seems doubtful "I don't know…we might need the firepower of whoever has to carry him."

I shrug "So I carry him. I'm the least experienced, so the loss in firepower will be negligible, and the colonists get one of their people back. They deserve that much, at least." I argue.

Shepard thinks it over for a few moments, the others looking at us impatiently "Fine. Pick up the body, Sam. We'll make sure that it gets back to the colony."

I smile, and sling my assault rifle back over my shoulder. Kneeling down, I roll the colonist over so that he's facing upwards and am immediately hit by how glassy his eyes appear, being unblinking and staring eternally into the sky. Before I pick him up I close his eyes. Looks like he's sleeping now. I place my arms underneath the body and slowly haul it up until I'm standing upright.

Wrex seems dissatisfied "Why are we taking the dead one?" Well, no one ever said that Krogan were the most…emotionally tuned of the various alien species.

"The colonists deserve to have their dead back, Wrex." Answers Shepard sternly "And anyway, we're not far from the colony, so we can afford the risk."

Wrex grunts "Not to mention it stops the kid from having to fight" he remarks cynically.

Wow. "Thanks, Wrex, I really appreciate your assessment of my motives." I respond sarcastically. Bastard. Who the hell does he think he is? Well, I imagine he knows exactly who he is, but that's beside the point.

"Can it, you two. Wrex, Sam's motives are genuine, Sam, don't even bother trying to be hostile with Wrex."

"Hah! Good advice, Shepard!" chuckles Wrex.

"Yeah, I'm going to agree with you there, Commander." I respond, in line with my general policy of don't pick fights with Krogan.

"Excellent, are you two done now?" Asks Ashley impatiently from a little further up the passageway where she stands with Garrus. Wrex glares at her, but I just sigh and nod. Who would've thought that retrieving a fallen comrade's corpse would cause so much dissatisfaction with a Krogan? Must be something to do with the whole 'survival of the fittest' thing.

We move on, with me increasingly uncomfortable with the concept of carrying a corpse around, even the short distance to the colony. But, I said I'd do it, so I'll do it.

Just a few minutes later we round another corner only to find it's actually a door way opening out onto the open area of Zhu's Hope. We don't have much time to realise this though, as we are almost immediately accosted by the defenders of the multiple barricades facing the doorway. Guess the colonists lost control of the spaceport at some point.

"Who are you? Are you from the ship, has the Alliance sent help?" They seem reasonably friendly in their tone, they clearly don't want a fight, but the raised guns suggest otherwise.

Shepard raises her hands and tries to defuse the situation somewhat. "Ok, everybody just calm down. Yes, we're from the Alliance and yes we're here to help. My name is Commander Shepard, now everyone let's just lower our weapons and try and resolve this peacefully." You should probably follow her advice, guys.

Fortunately for us all, they give in to reason and one by one, lower their weapons. Shepard motions for the others to do the same, even if most of us do it rather reluctantly. One of the colonists speaks up "Are you all the Alliance sent?" When Shepard confirms this, the colonist seems to deflate "Really? We're going to need a lot more than just you to beat back the Geth. But anyway…we sent someone through to meet you. Where is he?"

Shepard turns and motions for me to step forward. A couple of the colonists gasp when they see the corpse in my arms, but a rather concerning number of them barely react, including the one speaking "Dammit, he died? Well…take him through to Fai Dan. He'll take it from there."

Shepard nods "Where can we find this Fai Dan?"

"Just keep going to the far side of the colony, by the tower. You can't miss it. He'll introduce himself."

Shepard nods, and the colonists let us through. The colony is never shown at full strength in the games, but it sure doesn't look very impressive now. A few futuristic metal buildings, but not a lot else, doesn't strike me very much. What does impress, however, are the crumbling ruins of the Prothean megacity. I comment on this as we move through towards Fai Dan. "Imagine what this place would have looked like back when it was still Prothean."

Ashley gives me a strange look when I say this "You like history?" I nod, not seeing an issue with this, after which she just mutters "Figures." I frown, but don't respond, even though her comment does seem more than a little unnecessary.

After a short, silent apart from my exchange with Ashley, walk, we draw to a halt when we hear a man shout from our right "You there! Are you with the Alliance?"

Turning, we find ourselves facing Fai Dan, which Shepard promptly confirms by asking "I take it you're Fai Dan?"

"Yes, yes, that's me. I take it you're with the Alliance?"

"Yes, my name is Commander Shepard, I'm with the Alliance Navy."

Fai Dan breathes a sigh of relief when Shepard says this "Commander, I'm so glad that you're here. It's good that the Alliance has finally sent someone to help us."

The woman next to him, Arcelia, I think, frowns, and says in a voice that seems oddly defeated "Don't you think you're a little late?" Wow, I feel thanked. Can't really blame her, I guess, what with the Thorian controlling her and all, but it's still annoying to hear someone say it.

Fai Dan sighs and turns to Arcelia "Arcelia, now isn't the time. Let's see how they can help and then pass judgement." Arcelia, while not exactly placated, at the very least shuts up.

Shepard stands awkwardly, and begins to speak just as awkwardly. "Uh, Fai Dan, we were met by one of your people when we arrived at the spaceport…" Fai Dan's eyes seem resigned, he's clearly heard this tone of voice before.

"Yes? Did something happen?" Shepard doesn't say anything, just motions for me to step forward. Fai Dan bows his head when he sees the colonist that I'm carrying.

"Thank you for returning the body to us. We'll see that he's treated properly. Now, though-" As he speaks the sound of gunfire suddenly erupts from the tower doorway just around the corner.

A cry goes up from one of the colonists "We've got Geth in the tower!"

Fai Dan reacts immediately, drawing his pistol and shouting in response "Protect the heart of the colony!" Well, I knew this one was coming. Shepard reacts as well, drawing her assault rifle as the others do the same, before ordering me to leave the corpse here. I'm actually somewhat grateful to be able to set him down, I never realised how heavy a human body could be when it went totally limp.

The corpse set down in a secure position, I draw my assault rifle and re-join the main group. We move towards the entrance of the tower, but we're almost immediately forced to scatter into various bits of cover as a hail of fire from a small group of Geth meets us.

Finding myself next to Tali on the left hand side of the entrance, I take a moment to recover from the action, before stepping in line with Tali, who has drawn her shotgun, and beginning to offer a bit of resistance to the Geth.

In my immediate vision there seem to be three of them, two regular Geth up front and then one of the Geth snipers behind. As I fire I notice that the sniper has begun to glow red. Aren't those sniper beam things really dangerous?

I'm given my answer when, mere moments later, the sniper fires, a beam of red smashing into my kinetic barriers and outright penetrating them, and a few seconds later I feel two objects thud into my armour before dropping to the ground. With the beeping of my disabled kinetic barriers ringing in my ears, I dive back into cover behind Tali. Well, that was highly successful. The Geth fire doesn't appear to have penetrated my armour, which is nice.

Tali subsides in her fire for a moment to look back at me, sounding concerned "Are you alright?" Aw, you do care!

I nod, and reply "I'll be fine, give me a minute. And stay out of the sniper fire!" She nods, and begins returning fire again, while I take a moment to survey the battle.

Shepard and Wrex are on the far side in a similar configuration to Tali and I, Wrex using his shotgun to keep back the Geth that get close, and Shepard using her assault rifle to shoot at targets further back. They seem to be having more success than Tali and I, but then Shepard has the sense to not stand still while the sniper is aiming. Sniper still seems to be functional, as every few moments another burst of red emanates from the doorway and shoots off into the sky.

Ashley and Garrus are a little further back, behind one of the colonists own barricades, Garrus providing some sniper fire of our own and Ashley firing in what seems like a rather risky manner for an assault rifle. I mean, surely a weapon with quite a significant spread should not be used from the rear lines?

My kinetic barriers are soon back up, noticeably faster than I remember them doing so in the game, not that I'm complaining or anything. I step back around Tali and begin firing at the nearest Geth, managing to damage it but not render it destroyed before I'm forced to step back by the Sniper charging up or whatever that red glow is.

This repeats for some time. There are definitely more Geth than I remember here, since even though Wrex, Tali and Garrus seem to be doing an excellent job of bringing them down, they never seem to have taken down the last one. That bloody Sniper is still standing, too. Or maybe it's just a different one.

I lean out from behind Tali again and realise the Geth have essentially been annihilated save for the Sniper, who seems to be more than capable of recognising when its situation has become untenable and get back behind its little pillar. It does, however, seem incapable of passing up the opportunity of taking me out, and just leans out a little bit. Enough for me to be able to shoot at it with a reasonable chance of success and more than enough for it to be capable of charging up to kill me.

Just before I get back behind cover though, a rather different beam, this time blue, whistles past my shoulder just missing my head, and smashes into the Geth Sniper, practically destroying the flashlight and causing the Geth to slump to the ground very much non-functional. This, however, does not concern me at the moment, as I immediately turn and identify the culprit. "Garrus!"

The turian seems unapologetic as he leaps over the barricade he's stood behind and approaches me "What? It was a good opportunity!"

Yeah, right. "Just a little close, don't you think?" The turian just looks at me blankly. I think, he's wearing his helmet so it's difficult to tell. I find it difficult to be angry at him though, considering I almost certainly would have done the same in his position. "Y'know…leave it. I would have done the same. Just please try not to hit me if you ever do that again?" Garrus chuckles, and nods. Excellent.

The sound of gunfire is still coming from somewhere inside the tower though, and Shepard motions for us to form up and press forward. I count eight Geth platforms on the ground as we pass. There's another stairwell in here, and from the bottom I can see fire being exchanged at the top. We hurry to the top of the stairs, and as we arrive we find a single colonist facing off against a trio of Geth.

When he sees us, the colonist shouts out "Don't let me die, please, please don't let me die!" This proves his fatal mistake, as he stops firing for long enough to allow a Shock Trooper somewhere to the side to line up a rocket shot. The rocket shreds through the air and lands virtually on top of the colonist. I wince, and turn away cursing as the explosion goes off.

Wrex deals rather effectively with this one, charging forward and unleashing his shotgun. The Geth really don't last very long, and Wrex soon turns back towards us, smiling grimly in his victory. I consider going to check on the colonist, but I can tell from where I'm standing that there really isn't much to go and check up on. Instead, I simply wait for Shepard to press forward.

We do so, and instead of turning towards the tunnels-doubtless we'll all have fun in there later-and instead press forward up another staircase where we find ourselves in a wide, open space. Not this bloody room, I always did hate this one. Fortunately, the Geth in here don't appear to have noticed us yet. We spread out, taking up position behind varying degrees of cover. Shepard then motions to Garrus, who seems to understand.

Garrus draws his sniper rifle and aims for a few moments. I turn to look at the Geth in front of us, still sadly unaware of their inevitable fate, and ready my own weaponry.

Soon after, a blue beam rips into one of the Geth flashlights. Looks like it was a Sniper, excellent choice, Garrus! Of course, the other Geth don't exactly take this lightly, and soon they are converging on our various positions.

The Geth presence in this room is actually fairly light, suspiciously light, with only three Geth emerging to challenge our assault, none of them actually applying enough pressure to be a serious threat. As they fall, however, I hear the sound of metal feet upon the stone floor echoing from nearby. Well, shit.

We soon see the Geth, reinforcements, plentiful in number and utterly relentless. A Sniper takes position on an overhang and is soon annoying the hell out of me and my kinetic barriers. The Geth, too, spread out across the room and soon neither side is capable of moving. We try and move, a combination of Geth fire and that Sniper stops us from doing so. They try and move, we just stop them and they withdraw back behind cover.

I find myself next to Shepard, taking pot shots every few moments as the stalemate drags on. A few minutes in, though, I notice a big block of concrete -at least I assume its concrete- and realise that this perfect piece of cover is completely unoccupied. An idea begins to form in my mind.

I motion to Shepard, who leans in to listen to what I have to say "Commander, I have an idea!" She doesn't say anything, probably for the best "I'm going to run for that block of concrete! When I do, it'll draw their fire, so try and take something down while they're distracted!" Shepard hesitates for a moment, then nods.

I sidle along to the edge of the cover I'm in and then take a deep breath in preparation for what I'm about to do. I then throw myself out from behind cover and make a dash for the concrete block. From behind me I hear an assault rifle suddenly burst into action, and that's followed by the sad little beeping noise and the subsequent clatter of Geth falling to the ground. My kinetic barriers are pretty badly beaten, but at the very least I've been able to allow Shepard to take down some Geth.

I peek back around the concrete block and see that my ploy worked-the Geth numbers have been thinned by at least three platforms. Wonderful. I see Wrex notice this and begin to press up the other side of the room, using his sheer size and aggression to break the Geth line with no fear of being flanked anymore. The Geth have at this point been battered fairly severely, with only the Geth Sniper on the overhang still in a position to do anything.

I grin to myself, and then leap out from around the concrete block, unleashing the power of my assault rifle in the general direction of the Geth Sniper. It doesn't even get an opportunity to fire back once, my, probably just lucky, shots quickly taking down the Geth's shields and then ripping into the platform proper, quickly rendering it deactivated.

Just as the Sniper falls, however, cracks spread across the roof of the room, which promptly split open to reveal three more Geth troopers, which, although not a serious threat, still prove an annoyance with one of them landing behind us. They're quickly dispatched though, allowing us to regroup and reform our kinetic barriers.

As we begin to move towards each other, I hear a loud, booming noise begin to echo through the corridor that the Geth reinforcements are moving from. Oh, bloody hell, it's a Destroyer.

Scattering once again, we find ourselves fighting a rather tough Geth unit, not helped by the fact that it just so happens to choose me to be the brunt of its bloody charge, forcing me to dive out of cover to keep in one piece.

Quickly relocating to another piece of cover, I keep firing in conjunction with the rest of the squad, but whatever shielding the Geth have put on this Destroyer is seriously solid, with even minutes of continuous fire from at least one source is having difficulty breaking.

Soon, though, the shields show the obvious signs of fading. The Destroyer, seemingly sensing the danger it's found itself in, launches one final charge…straight at me. Oh shit. I don't have time to get out of the way, so I just resort to firing desperately at the oncoming destroyer as it approaches, but the armoured plating of the Destroyer seems to be much thicker than on the other Geth, and my fire, while visibly having an effect is simply not doing it quickly enough.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see Wrex charging towards the two of us, before leaping forward and tackling the Destroyer right out from in front of me, landing on the stone floor with a loud clatter. Did Wrex just deliberately save my life?

I recover from the shock of what just happened and quickly run over to the Krogan, who is already clambering to his feet and grinning viciously at what he's just done. Still slightly surprised by his actions, I ask "Wrex! Are you alright?" He doesn't respond, he just grins ever wider, which I wouldn't have believed was possible.

Eventually, he speaks "Never better! That Geth didn't know what hit it. Hah!" Well, he's sure earned the right to sound that triumphant, I'm not convinced that I would have come out of that one fully intact…which is really not a thought I wanted to have.

"Well, Wrex, I guess I owe you my thanks."

"Don't mention it! Wouldn't have wanted you to die so early on anyway!" Wow, not only does combat really cheer Wrex up, but apparently it makes him more flippant too, wonderful.

I don't have any more time to thank him, as at that moment even more of the ceiling comes crumbling down to reveal a Geth dropship, which I really should have remembered as being there, which promptly flies away, acknowledging their defeat, this time.

We watch the ship go. Well, I guess that concludes the tower segment. Now, back to Fai Dan? "Well, that seems to be done with. Should we report to Fai Dan?"

Shepard nods "Let's make it quick. We need to find where the Geth are bunkered." Oh yeah, we're not just here to help the colony. Forgot that bit of information. Well then, off we go.

Mere minutes later, we're back with Fai Dan. He seems grateful enough "The towers secure. All thanks to you, Commander."

Shepard shrugs "I'm just glad that your colony is safe."

Fai Dan smiles "We appreciate your help…and your efforts against the Geth." Aren't they the same thing at this point in time?

Arcelia chooses this moment to pipe up "They may be slowed, but they'll come back. They always come back." Well, they are Geth.

Shepard frowns behind her helmet "Help me find what the Geth are after and you'll all get out of here alive." Implying that they won't if they don't provide help…wow. And I'm pretty sure that that's the Paragon response.

Fai Dan shrugs "We don't know what they're after. They came, they attacked us. That's all we know. Their main base is the ExoGeni Headquarters. A good place to look if you need answers."

I decide to speak now, seeing as there's something here I don't actually know "ExoGeni?"

Arcelia responds this time "They're the company that most of us worked for before the attack. They fund this colony. The Headquarters is directly over the Prothean Skyway, you can't miss it."

"Of course, there's an army of Geth between here and there." Adds Fai Dan.

Shepard doesn't seem bothered by this "I didn't expect that this would be easy."

Fai Dan seems pleased "Well then, maybe I can get this colony operational again." Please, Shepard, please do inquire as to what needs to be done. I would feel horrible knowing that we did all this only for the colony to end up disbanding anyway.

Shepard promptly does this "What's needed to get this place back on its feet?"

Arcelia laughs bitterly "We need those Geth destroyed."

Fai Dan agrees "Arcelia is right-there are still Geth in the tunnels, but we also have more mundane problems like food, water and power. I'm not entirely sure where we stand on those matters, so if you want to help you should speak to the people overseeing them."

Shepard nods, and turns away from the two. "Well, I guess we should help them out then. Listen, we don't have time to do each task individually, so we need to split up. Garrus, Tali, I need you two to go and inquire about the water supply. Ashley, Wrex you two are to go and deal with this Geth problem in the tunnels. Sam and I will cover the power and the food supply. Understood? Ok then, get going!"

Do I really have to fight an Alpha Varren? That just seems cruel. Then again, Shepard is not currently aware of the problem of the Alpha Varren. The group disperses, Ashley and Wrex heading towards the tunnels to deal with that problem. Hopefully they find the Geth transmitter and have the sense to shut it off. Garrus and Tali head off towards the back of the colony to inquire about the water supply.

I turn to Shepard "Any idea where to begin?" Shepard nods.

"Follow me. I saw someone tinkering with a power generator when we entered the colony. Let's go find them." She sets off, with me following in her wake.

After a brief walk, we find this colonist not far from where Garrus and Tali are asking about the water supply. As we approach she stands "Hey. Nice work with those Geth. I still need some power cells for this generator, though."

Shepard frowns "Could we bring in some power cells from the Normandy? We could certainly spare a few."

The colonist shakes her head "Sorry, but your top-of-the-line ship is simply too advanced for this old generator. The cells won't be compatible with this generator."

Shepard sighs "Well, then, if I find anything while we're looking around I'll send it your way."

"Thank you, Commander, I appreciate it."

Walking away, I say "Well, that seems simple enough." Especially, I don't say, as the power cells are found in the same room as the Alpha Varren that Shepard and I are about to take down.

"Yes, it should be. We still need to find out the problem with the food source, though."

Well, I can arrange for us to find out about that "Why don't we go and ask Fai Dan who's in charge of that?" That should take us right past the guy in charge of that, which is nice.

Shepard nods, and we set off, right through the building like I hoped we would. As we pass the colonist that I know is in charge of the food supply, I hear him say into a communicator of some kind "Yes, I know about the Alpha Varren….isn't there anything you can do? We need that food!"

Apparently Shepard hears this too, as she steps up and asks "Excuse me? Are you in charge of the food supply?"

The colonist seems annoyed by our interruption, until he recognises Shepard "Oh, you're the one that repelled that last wave. They'll be back, but even if they aren't we'll die of hunger soon enough anyway. So yes, I'm the one in charge of our food supplies. Or lack of food supplies." Well, aren't you optimistic.

"What have you done to try to remedy your situation?"

The colonist sighs "I'm trying to boost our rations with Varren meat, but it's just too dangerous. The Alpha Varren-he's huge and he's mad, totally uncontrollable. I can't do anything until he's dead."

Shepard nods "I'll deal with it."

"Thank you, Commander. I appreciate it."

Shepard and I head off. "Well then, it looks like we're headed into the tunnels" I remark.

Shepard nods "Sure looks that way. Come on, it should be a little easier with Ashley and Wrex dealing with the Geth down there" On that, we can agree.

We hurry towards the tunnels, and on the way down we pass the wreckage of a group of Geth. Well, they did try to fight Ashley and Wrex at the same time. This one's their fault.

Entering into the tunnels requires passage through what seems to be some kind of enormous water treatment plant-the utilities 'building'. Seeing it in person only makes it more impressive. There is a noticeable absence of Geth in the area as we proceed through, which is encouraging. Ashley and Wrex must be doing their job well. We pass Tali and Garrus on the way, Tali hard at work with one of the water valves while Garrus keeps an eye out. They both assure us they aren't facing any problems.

The Geth corpses we pass just keep getting bigger and bigger. It's actually very impressive that Ashley and Wrex were able to take all this down on their own after the difficulties we face fighting this kind of Geth as a group.

Y'know, I swear that there was supposed to be a colonist somewhere around here, and I swear that he was supposed to be the one who warns Shepard about the Thorian mind control. To my great annoyance, we come across his corpse as we move towards the Varren room. Well shit, guess we're not finding out about the mind control until the very last minute then.

Keeping my thoughts to myself, Shepard and I turn onto the collapsed highway section where the Varren have set up shop.

I hear the Varren before I see it, a faint growl that rapidly grows closer as I walk through the doorway until it's literally right on top of me, knocking me to the ground and going right for my jugular.

The smell is horrific, like it's going to rip right through my nose, but that's far from my concern as my hands lock around the Varren's neck in an attempt to keep it from ripping my throat open. I hear the sound of a shotgun firing. Shepard must be busy elsewhere, which is why I'm still in this position.

I use what little strength I can muster from this position to try and roll over so that I can reach my pistol. Unfortunately, this action simply rolls me over twice so that I'm still underneath the Varren just in a different position.

However, I do feel a rock nestle under my head as I roll over again, and a desperate idea begins to form in my mind. Taking one hand off the Varren's neck, I reach underneath my head and retrieve the rock, which is of a good weight and nice and rough. With my other hand beginning to buckle under the Varren's sheer weight, I swing my arm in a short, desperate motion in an attempt to bring the rock into contact with the beasts head.

I swing, and the rock ends up right in the Varren's eye. Ouch.

As the rock collides, the beast lets out a howl of pain and some fluid spurts out of the newly created hole in its head. Lovely. I swing again, and this time there is a definite cracking sound and the addition of blood to the already vile concoction of bodily fluids pooling on the floor. Trying not to vomit as blood spurts onto my head, I swing the rock one final time and this time the Varren slumps to the ground next to me, very definitely dead or at least unconscious, judging by the cracking noise that that last swing produced.

Clambering to my feet and dropping the rock, I notice another Varren notice me and turn away from Shepard. I suddenly realise that my assault rifle landed halfway across the room when the other Varren tackled me, leaving with me with just my pistol.

The Varren charges at me, and I quickly draw my pistol and fire several shots at the Varren, which, thanks to the wonderful absence of kinetic barriers, quickly falls, only to be replaced with another Varren which I miss twice, forcing the gun into an overheat mode. As the Varren charges I flip the gun around and grab it by the barrel which nearly turns into a fatal mistake when the heat nearly makes me drop the damn thing.

The Varren leaps into the air and I swing the pistol, sending the Varren crumpling to the floor where it does not move. Looking up, I see Shepard disposing of the last Varren attacking her. She looks at me, and seems relieved that I haven't died horribly. Taking a moment to recover, I realise that none of these Varren are especially large. "Shepard, none of these corpses seem very special. It seems as if the Alpha hasn't attacked us yet."

She nods "Get your assault rifle and then let's search the room, see if it's lying in wait somewhere." I do so and we begin to head up the slope in the room towards the abandoned vehicle. Well, even if the Alpha has vanished, at least we can get the power cells.

As we reach the top of the slope, however, it rapidly becomes apparent that the Alpha has not vanished, it simply hasn't viewed us as a threat and therefore hasn't moved. I can tell because the thing is bloody enormous. At least three times the size of the other Varren and with crimson red fur. At least I think its fur, it might well be blood.

The Alpha, seeing that we've slain its pack, lets out a low, terrifying growl and begins to stomp towards us, steadily building up speed. Shepard forgoes the shotgun in favour of the assault rifle and quickly starts firing at the Varren, an action which I follow. Even the combined fire of two assault rifles barely slows the great beast down, however, and we're both forced to dive to the side as the Alpha charges at us.

Picking myself up from the floor, I keep on firing even as the Alpha turns towards me and makes his intent to murder me perfectly clear by beginning to build up the momentum for a charge again. Come on! Why are they all going for me? Are they all just capable of identifying me as the weakest or something?

Fortunately, Shepard is maintaining fire on the Varren as well and it is visibly flagging as some of the gunfire begins to hit the Varren's legs, which are noticeably about the same size as the other Varren's, which does make me briefly wonder how in the world this Varren can support itself.

I don't really care, however, as the fire slowly but surely slows the Varren down until it's just dragging itself towards me on its front legs. My own fire has had an effect as well-blood has spattered from several wounds on the Varren's forehead, and it's clearly on its last legs.

The Varren's jaw, however, is very much still operational and I back away as the Alpha collapses in front of me. Raising my assault rifle, I fire a burst into its head and put the beast out of its misery.

Well, that was exhausting. Who knew fighting Varren in hand-to-hand would take so much out of me? Shepard walks up to me and asks, in a tone of some minor concern, how I am.

"I'm fine. Just exhausting, is all." Shepard nods.

"Well, we've dealt with the Varren, so the colonists can get food. But there is still the problem of the power cells."

I take a few more deep breaths and then look at the vehicle, which is still wonderfully intact. "Do you reckon there's anything of use in the vehicle?"

Shepard frowns, and turns towards it. She walks up to the front of the vehicle and pulls open a hatch of some kind, before rummaging around inside for a moment. She then pulls out something and holds it up. It looks like a battery of some kind, so I'm guessing we found it. "Got it. Now, let's see how the others are doing." I nod, and we set off to Fai Dan.

Well, when we get back to Fai Dan everyone's still alive, which is nice. Everyone also reports success in their various endeavours, for which Fai Dan is understandably grateful "Thank you, Commander. With those essentials back in place and the Geth cleared out of the tunnels, this colony actually has a chance at survival again. But, we still need the rest of the Geth dispersed."

Shepard nods "And that means we need to get to ExoGeni Headquarters."

"Precisely. It isn't far, directly over the Prothean Skyway. Unfortunately, the Geth have armatures on the Skyway, so it could prove difficult to cross."

Shepard shakes her head "Don't worry. We have a way around that." Ah yes, the Mako. Should be interesting.

Fai Dan shrugs "Well then, the elevator to the Skyway is just up the stairwell in the tower, you can't miss it."

Shepard nods in gratitude and we head up to the elevator, which is actually a little crowded with such a large group, before emerging into a large room with a couple of colonists fending off a Geth assault drone, which is quickly disposed of.

There is a Mako at the bottom of a slope which covers half the room, directly across from what appears to be a large garage door. Shepard climbs on top of the Mako and climbs into a hatch in the 'head' of the vehicle, whereas the rest of us head for the back and climb into what is presumably intended as the troop transport section of the vehicle. Well, time to see how bad this thing really is.

I can tell almost as soon as we start moving that it's not going to be pretty, with the whole vehicle starting to totter about as soon as the engine starts. From outside I hear the sound of a door opening and then Shepard's voice crackles into life from somewhere in the vehicle. "Okay, everyone, a Geth ship just dropped a pair of Armatures on the Skyway so I'm going to have to make this one quick. You might want to hold onto something." Garrus just groans and reaches out for one of the handles in the ceiling of the little compartment, which all of us save Wrex do as well.

The Mako begins to move faster and at the same time begins to bounce around much more violently, which does make me wonder who the hell designed the suspension on this thing. I hear a loud boom from somewhere overhead, Shepard must be trying to clear the Skyway of some of the Geth with the main gun, which as I recall was easily the greatest part of the Mako.

I hear the sound of ignition from somewhere within the walls of the Mako, briefly terrifying me before I feel the Mako lift off the ground and remember that the Mako has that bloody propulsion system that never quite seemed to be capable of landing correctly.

Shepard's voice rings out once more "Tali, I'm picking up some radio chatter. Can you pinpoint its location? I'll send it through to your Omni-Tool.

After a few moments of messing around on the Omni-Tool, while I'm feeling ever more ill at the combination of the Mako's driving and the occasional booms of the main gun, which just send the entire vehicle wobbling even more, Tali shakes her head and responds "I can't get anything out of it. It's nearby, but I can't pinpoint it." That'll be the ExoGeni lot then. Hmm, I do wonder if Shepard will be capable of talking down the guy who needs talking down. I was never capable of it, so it would be interesting to see how it plays out if ExoGeni provides support in the future.

After a few more minutes of wild swings, lift offs and one point where I'm pretty sure the Mako went upside down, I hear the sound of a garage door open and close, and then the Mako grinds to a halt.

"Okay everyone, get out, whoevers broadcasting the radio must be close enough to see us, they just mentioned our presence. We need to find these guys."

We all clamber out of the vehicle and I need to stop myself from being ill as a result of all the rapid movement. After a brief moment to recover, which I note is shared by the majority of the squad, we begin searching for the ExoGeni group, and promptly discover the hole where they've been hiding out.

As we step cautiously down the ramp into their hideout, we are quickly spotted by ExoGeni security and a man's voice calls out "Stop there! That's close enough!" Ah, yes, Ethan Jeong. This is the guy who might well die if things aren't done properly. Which would result in ExoGeni pulling out of the colony, which would be bad. So yeah.

The woman next to him-I think it's the mother of the girl we'll find in the ExoGeni headquarters-rolls her eyes and says "Relax, Ethan, they're obviously not Geth." Well, yes, obviously.

Ethan…does not visibly relax very much, instead demanding "Who are you? Why are you here?"

Shepard raises a hand and tries to calm the situation down somewhat "I'm Commander Shepard. We're here to remove your issue with the Geth."

The woman smiles "See, Ethan? You worry too much."

Ethan snorts "And you trust too easily, Juliana." That's the one! Juliana Baynham!

Juliana shrugs "I'm just glad to see a friendly face. I thought we were the only humans left on this planet." Yeah, no.

Shepard promptly dispels that notion "Fai Dan and some members of Zhu's Hope are still alive."

Juliana turns to Ethan and frowns, a note of suspicion entering her voice "I though you said they were all dead."

Ethan is unapologetic "I said they were probably all dead." Understandable that he would want to save his own skin, and so would assume that the other colonists were all dead so that he wouldn't need to send help. Not nice, but understandable.

Tali speaks up "They live, but the Geth have devastated their colony."

Juliana nods "We know what that's like. Those damn synthetics are relentless."

"I'll do what I can to keep the Geth away from you, but I need some information first."

Ethan is immediately even more suspicious then he was before "What kind of information?"

Juliana sighs "Ignore him. The Geth are in the Headquarters, just a little further up the Skyway."

Ethan doesn't seem best pleased at the prospect of us going into the Headquarters, even if it is to clear out the Geth "Those Headquarters are private property, soldier. Remove the Geth and nothing else!" You try my patience, Ethan Jeong…

Shepard seems frustrated at this paranoia as well. If I didn't already know about the Thorian, I'd say that ExoGeni had something to hide. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in your company secrets" Yet, anyway.

Just before we turn to leave, Juliana speaks up. "Commander. Before you go…it's my daughter, Lizbeth, she's been missing, and she was last seen in the Headquarters…"

Ethan interrupts "They shouldn't waste time by poking around. We can do a proper inventory of our casualties after the Geth are gone." Wow, that's cold.

Juliana isn't best pleased either "That's my daughter you're talking about! I know she's alive…I just know it."

Shepard doesn't weigh in "Stay bunkered here until I find out what the Geth are after."

Juliana nods "Of course, Commander. And please remember, if you see my daughter…"

With that, we turn around and head back towards the Mako. What, no Gavin Hossle and the quest for data on the far side of several Krogan warriors? Probably for the best, now that I think about it, but still.

After a brief, bumpy sojourn over the Skyway, Shepard orders us back out of the Mako. Guess we've arrive at the Headquarters.

And the Geth are already upon us. Not much, admittedly, but still. Just a Geth Stalker hopping about, which is quickly dealt with, though doubtless it will have reported our position to the other Geth.

As we advance towards the entrance, however, a pair of Geth Troopers come out from behind the safeguard of the ramp and start shooting at us, although these, too are quickly disposed of under a hail of fire from the party. I must say, having six in the group really does make life a lot easier in combat.

We begin to head for the entrance, but the Geth of course have deployed their energy shield or whatever it is over the doorway. Tali sighs and says "Typical Geth deployment. We'll need another route in."

We double back and head towards the other side of the room, but the door over there is locked. And so, inevitably, we arrive at the hole in the ground. Which really isn't very deep, which is why I'm surprised when Garrus says "Looks like a one way drop, Shepard." It plainly isn't-the hole barely extends above my head.

Despite this warning, Shepard promptly drops into the hole and begins to move along it. We look at each other, and then follow suit. The tunnel is quite odd-seemingly existing for no other purpose than for us to get around the energy field. Works for me.

As we exit the tunnel and find ourselves in a large expanse of a room, I notice a dead Varren over to the right and point this out to Shepard, who moves to examine it. I'm pretty sure this is where we find Juliana's daughter, and sure enough a gunshot soon echoes through the room and the girl emerges from around a pillar.

She seems apologetic enough "I'm so sorry! I thought you were Geth, or some of those Varren."

Shepard steps forwards and smiles, though it's strained and I suspect she's making an effort to be nice here "Its fine. But why were you here in the first place?"

The girl sighs "It's my own fault. I was trapped here when the Geth ship landed. Everyone else was running and I stayed to back up some data, but the Geth ship landed and then the power went out. I tried to escape but the way was blocked."

Shepard nods "We'll get you out as soon as we find out what the Geth are after."

The girl shakes her head "It isn't the Geth, it's the energy field that they put up. They don't want anyone else gaining access to the…" Here she trails off. Oh dear, you appear to have made an error, girl. This must be the Thorian.

Shepard takes a step forward and says in a reassuring but firm voice "I'm here for the Geth. It's very important that I know what they're after, so if you have anything to say it's best if you mention it now."

The girl, I think her name is Lizbeth, nods "Of course. I think…well, they might be here for the Thorian."

Ashley speaks up for the first time in a while "The Thorian? What exactly is that?"

Lizbeth shrugs "It's an indigenous life form…ExoGeni was studying it." Well, that's one way of putting it. Can't blame her for not wanting to mention the human experimentation, though.

"Interesting…what else can you tell me about this Thorian then? Do you know where I can find it?"

Lizbeth hesitates "I…might be able to. But not without the Geth crawling around everywhere. Look, we need to get out of here, past the energy field." Hah! Smart girl, holding back vital information until it's safe. Can't blame her for that, I would do it too.

Shepard sighs "Very well then, do you know how we can shut it down?"

Lizbeth shakes her head "No, not exactly. But I've noticed the Geth laying power cables everywhere, so I think it's linked to the Geth ship. Be careful if you follow the cables, though, there are Geth everywhere."

Shepard nods "Alright then, I'll look into it. Stay put until the field is down."

Lizbeth doesn't have an issue with this "I'm not going to argue. I'll just find a small hole to hide in until the field is down. Here, take my ID. This should help you get past any remaining security. Good luck with the field." And with that, she's gone, back behind the pillars and virtually into the walls. I don't have time to dwell on the rapidity of her disappearance however, as soon I can hear a growl from somewhere nearby.

"Varren." I mutter, and turn to look for the said beast. There are actually quite a few of them, and they swarm our group, one nearly knocking me to the floor again until I smash its skull in with the butt of my assault rifle. With a combination of assault rifle fire, shotgun shells and an odd advantage in numbers, which is very odd for Mass Effect, we soon manage to overcome the small pack.

That dealt with, we set out for the far side of the room where a door with a green panel indicating it as being unlocked can be seen. "You know, this place turned into a mess really quickly." I comment, looking around at the rubble and the one or two fires which dot the room.

"The Geth are brutally efficient when attacking a place. It's no surprise that they've virtually destroyed this place." Responds Tali. Okay, saying they destroyed it may be a minor exaggeration, but then again she is a Quarian and therefore biased. It could be argued, I suppose, that my knowledge of the future makes me biased, but I'm going to gloss over that as I really don't know how to present a counterargument there. Plus, I'm arguing with myself, which is never a good sign.

As the door opens in front of us to reveal a stairwell, an angry voice emanates from somewhere above us "Stupid machine! Access encrypted files!" Oh yeah, the Krogan commander. First sign of the Krogan fighting with Saren, I believe.

I frown and turn to Wrex "Is that a Krogan?" One has to keep up appearances after all.

Wrex nods grimly "Sounds like it. Might want to be careful."

Shepard nods, and we all ready our weapons before proceeding up the stairs. All the while, the Krogan is shouting at the VI he's attempting to access "No, I do not want to review protocol!"

As we get to the top of the stairs, we see the Krogan with his shotgun already drawn, still shouting at the emotionless VI "I am sorry, but I am unable to comply. Please contact your supervisor."

The Krogan is not pleased at this "Listen here you stupid machine, tell me what I want or I'll blast your virtual ass into actual dust!" Well, that's just rude.

The VI remains unperturbed at the threat to its functionality "Please contact your supervisor for a Level 4 security exemption. Otherwise, I am unable to comply."

The Krogan growls in frustration "Stupid machine!"

Isn't this the bit where the VI gives us away? "If there are no other inquiries, please step aside. There is a crew forming behind you for use of this unit." Dammit! The Krogan Commander looks around and grins.

"Oh good. I really need to kill something." What a wonderful attitude to life. Nonetheless, he does seem more than capable of carrying out his threat, with his shotgun and armour. But using these effectively would probably require basic understanding of tactics, which, being a Krogan who isn't also Urdnot Wrex, this guy does not possess. Instead, he charges at us and promptly gets his kinetic barriers and then his face shredded under a withering hail of fire. It really is quite horrible in reality, but I have not time to dwell on it.

Stepping up to the VI terminal, Shepard brings up the VI, who is not pleased about the gunfire, insofar as a VI can be displeased, anyway. "ExoGeni reminds all staff that dischargment of weaponry is strictly forbidden on company property. Welcome back, Research Assistant Elizabeth Baynham. How may I assist you?"

Shepard, apparently having no issue with being called by a name that isn't hers, responds with "I need answers. What information was the previous user attempting to access?"

The VI is silent for a moment, then responds "The previous user was attempting to access information on Subject Species 37, the Thorian."

"Tell me everything you told the Krogan."

"I was unable to give the previous user any relevant date. Apart from lacking proper access, there has been no new data on Species 37. All sensors show that the monitoring post at Zhu's Hope has been inactive for several cycles." Ah, the plot thickens. Well, it does for the others.

Shepard frowns "What did you say? How is Zhu's Hope relevant?"

The VI responds blankly "Species 37 is located within the substructure of the Zhu's Hope outpost."

"Tell me everything you know about the Thorian." There is now a certain level of urgency present in Shepard's voice.

"Species 37 is a simple plant life form which exhibits a level of sentient behaviour uncommon in other floral species. Through the spreading and eventual inhalation of spores, the Thorian can gain control of other life forms, including humans. The Zhu's Hope control group has yielded interesting results. The last known data indicates that 85% of the colony has been infected." Simple but brutal.

"You mean you knew that your people were getting infected?" Shepard isn't angry. Not yet, anyway.

The VI is plain "It was deemed necessary to assess the true potential of Species 37." Of course it was. Others might disagree.

"Well, that explains why the colonists were acting up. Do you think Joker should be warned?" I say. Probably best to ensure the Normandy is secure.

Shepard nods, and brings a hand up to her ear "Joker. Joker! Dammit, that field is blocking us."

Wrex speaks up "We've got to drop that field and get back the outpost."

Shepard inclines her head "Agreed." She turns back to the VI "VI, what can you tell me about the Geth field?"

The VI responds a few moments later "I have limited data on the Geth. They have effectively blocked all sensors within facility. I have detected unusual power fluctuations, but I am unable to pinpoint the source." Ah yes, we must now deal with that Geth ship.

"Fine then, we need to find that ship. Let's get moving." Shepard sighs. The VI vanishes and we head off, around the corner into another passageway.

Up another stairwell and around another corner, we find two Geth engaged in a very un-Geth like activity: the act of worship. Heretics. The two AI's have prostrated themselves in front of a shrine of four spikes that seem to be almost Reaper tech, but are more likely to be Geth. Either way, it's disappointing to see the Geth like this. Apparently the others agree, as soon the two Geth fall underneath our gunfire.

We begin to move down towards the shrine. As we do so Tali points out the Geth claws in the side of the building "The Geth use these claws to anchor their ships in the side of buildings."

Garrus nods "Interesting docking style, but how are we going to disable the power if it's coming from the ship?"

Tali sighs "It will be difficult. We can check for weaknesses in the other claws, but the Geth are extremely thorough."

Before they head off, I interrupt "Wait, Tali, since when do Geth worship?"

Tali seems just as confused as I'm pretending to be "I'm not sure. It is possible that since the Geth blur the line between organic and synthetic life they would seek understanding from a higher power, but I've never heard of this anywhere else."

I nod, and we move on, down a corridor in search of our quarry. We pass a couple of charred corpses on the way, and I try not to think about how they died. Also try not to think about the possibility the Geth did this to them deliberately.

Luckily, we soon emerge on the far side of the Geth energy field from where we need to be. I guess we're getting close. There's a trio of Geth here. But since they're facing away from us it really doesn't take that long for them to fall to the floor.

We then head down a corridor bathed in eerie red light and turn up another flight of stairs, mercifully devoid of any Geth resistance until we reach the top, where we emerge into a large expanse of a room with a pair of Geth claws breaking through the wall on either side of a rubble barrier with a staircase extending over it. This is the room where we bring down the Geth ship, if I'm not mistaken.

First, though, we need to deal with the Geth, who are many in number and annoyingly aware of our presence. We spread out across our side of the room and begin firing back at the Geth.

After a couple of minutes of back and forth between the two sides, I notice a canister of some description lying conveniently in the centre of our little battlefield. Deciding to take a chance, I turn my fire at it, resulting in a rather titanic blue explosion which engulfs several Geth and has the unfortunate side effect of frying a nearby terminal. I do hope that wasn't important.

Either way, this action has severely weakened the Geth, their numbers now down to a mere two, who don't last long against Wrex's charging. The rest of us don't even need to do anything, he just demolishes them. It's really quite an impressive sight.

I don't actually remember Wrex being this aggressive, but then again none of the squadmates were overly aggressive in the game, but that was probably just the result of AI limitations.

Anyway, moving on, we climb the stairs and see the second claw, which only results in Tali sighing and saying "We don't have the ordnance to blow this claw. Let's keep looking." No, Tali, but if we proceed just a little further into this room we shall have something just as good. Which is why I'm privately pleased when Shepard does just that and proceeds further into the room instead of simply doubling back to look elsewhere.

As we descend the opposite staircase, however, a large group of Geth stop their work on their terminals and come to fight us, as well as a Geth Destroyer lumbering out from around the corner. Wonderful.

Instead of scattering, we for some reason decide to be aggressive with this group of Geth, pressing forward as a unit and quickly dispatching the smaller Geth, before being scattered again by the charge of the Geth Destroyer. Fortunately, this isn't last time, and under the pressure of combined fire from a number of different angles the kinetic barriers of the behemoth tatter and fail. Those things are really tough, and we haven't even encountered a single Juggernaut or Prime yet!

As we begin to look around, Tali says "This is interesting, Shepard. A containment lab of some kind."

Wrex responds "It's no armoury, but if even one of those claws goes down then that ship is history."

Looking at the back of the room, Ashley points out an array of consoles at the back of the room. I think these are that minigame that was designed to close the doors. I'd really rather not muck about with that thing now, but if it's got to be done…

Fortunately, however, Shepard seems to know what needs to be done and after some button pressing, she approaches the main console and presses something on there. That sure seems to have done it!

With a great ripping noise the claw attached to the wall begins to buckle under the pressure of the shuttle bay door as it rips through the claw blocking its way. Suddenly, the claw snaps and the remnant left inside the building falls to the floor with a mighty crash. From far away, the sound of other claws elsewhere collapsing under the strain reaches my ears, and soon the sound of the large Geth ship plummeting to the ground echoes upwards towards us. Excellent.

Before we have time to celebrate though, Shepard's communicator crackles into life, and Jokers ever so slightly panicked voice emerges from it. "I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Come on, Commander, talk to me!"

"Joker?"

"Commander! We're in lockdown over here! Something happened to the colonists, they're banging on the hull, trying to claw into the ship. They're freaking out!"

"Don't panic, they can't do any real damage. Just hold your position until we return."

"Uh…yeah. Okay. Well, we'll just wait right here for you, Commander." The communicator falls silent.

Shepard turns to us "Alright, everyone. This place will be crawling with Geth soon. Keep it together, and we all make it out of here alive, understood?"

We all nod, and prepare to fight our way out of ExoGeni Headquarters.

Well, off to the heart of darkness, I guess.

* * *

Thanks for reading! All feedback is welcome!


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